I’ve only watched Bridgerton’s first season one time. That was enough for me, lol. No, I enjoyed the series and I’m looking forward to the second season, which I will start this weekend. Since I’ve only watched it one time, you’ll have to forgive me for mixing up the Bridgerton “brothers,” who tended to blend together to me. I mean, that was good casting – they looked like brothers and they looked alike. Season 2 is heavily focused on Jonathan Bailey’s “rake” character, Anthony Bridgerton. He’s the one who had the inappropriate mistress, right? Well, Jonathan Bailey is a lot different. He’s a classically trained actor who happens to be a gay man, he’s spent much of his career in theater, and he loves to sing and dance. Some highlights from Bailey’s British GQ interview:
On Season 2: “The idea that [Bridgerton] is coming out again is a bit of a rug pull. It’s quite scary.”
On being a sex symbol: “Any actor who thinks they’re a sex symbol? Cringe.”.
Advice he got as a young actor: “At the time he was told, ‘There’s two things we don’t want to know: if you’re an alcoholic or if you’re gay.’” The words stuck with Bailey. “All it takes is for one of those people in that position of power to say that, and it ripples through. So, yeah, of course I thought that. Of course I thought that in order to be happy I needed to be straight.”
Why it took him years to discuss his sexuality: “I reached a point where I thought, ‘F–k this’, I’d much prefer to hold my boyfriend’s hand in public or be able to put my own face picture on Tinder and not be so concerned about that, than get a part.”
Playing a heterosexual rake: Bailey, meanwhile, says that he “started to think about [Anthony’s] charm,” and specifically “what it means to be a rake, and how his anxiety and self-hatred plays into that.” Anthony also forced Bailey to, in his words, “think about love a lot…. You put your life experiences into [the work]. What’s most interesting is not necessarily having to talk about what that is, and keeping a sense of privacy.”
Bridgerton has opened up lots of opportunities for him: “Yeah…I mean…that sounds…I can say that now but, you always think they’re going to move on – and it’s only for a moment,” he says sheepishly. Bridgerton is wonderful, he adds, “but in 20 years, you don’t want to be famous. You want a sustained career.”
It feels like Bridgerton is so big and such a juggernaut that I doubt producers and Netflix are even worried or angry that their “leading man” for Season 2 is talking about his sexuality in press for the series. People will watch the show regardless because of “Bridgerton brand,” and most Bridgerton viewers probably don’t even follow gossip enough to know. And people who do know that a gay man is playing this fictional rake will applaud Netflix and Shonda Rimes’s decision to cast a queer actor. Win-win. Anyway, Bailey sounds very well-adjusted, but who knows how his life now that season two has dropped.
Cover & Instagram courtesy of British GQ.
There are people who really believe there are no actors in Hollywood who are in the closet and have bearding contracts and that blows my mind. Of course there are!
This. Hollywood is full of theatre kids. And it may be hard to believe that in 2022 those that are LGBTQ+ feel that need to hide but just look at Florida. You don’t think there’s executives that believe having an out and proud actor would “hurt” their bottom line? Come on.
Anyways, love him and I hope this opens up a long and diverse career for him.
He was hired to play a certain character and he did so beautifully. Who cares if he is gay……The man can ACT. If he transported you to a place and time, if you felt his struggles and if you couldn’t stop watching he did his JOB. He was excellent in my opinion.
Exactly. He is the current version of Matt Bomer. Matt Bomer shocked the people who were always going to be shocked by someone being out and proud, but to the rest of us, who don’t expect that the actors we love are going to bed with someone that looks like us? *shrug*
He is so…going to go with cute here due to my age, but it’s so hard for me to watch him as he plays jerks far too well. His character in Broadchurch was awful as was Anthony in the first season of Bridgerton. It’s always been hard for me to watch Eric Roberts after his Star 80 role.
Hope he has a great career.
Omg I didn’t even clock that he was in Broadchurch!!!!! I’m going to have to binge it this weekend again
I didn’t either. I know what I am rewatching this weekend!
I understand why he was told not to disclose his sexuality (because society does not have a kind history to marginalized communities), but trust me, he’s a good enough actor to be very believably in love with Kate.
Very much so!
That sounds like an old school Agent. I can’t imagine anyone of my generation or younger advising their clients like this. There are SO MANY closeted queer actors, it breaks my heart honestly that it’s still seen as a negative. But now there’s this weird thing in Casting where they’re actively asking for actors who identify in that community, effectively asking them to out themselves for a role. It’s bizarre. There is so much wrong with my industry, sigh
Yes. Lumping his sexuality in with alchoholism was pretty thoughtless too. What kind of impact might linking the two early in his life have on his decision to get help later in life if he does end up struggling with addiction, or some other health issue? Progress has been made, but to some extent there’s still a blind spot there.
Start this weekend? The second season started last Friday 3/25.
Ooops, missed the *I* will start this weekend….
Gay or not, he knocked the role of Anthony out of the park. He was convincing enough for me to drool and swoon and have palpitations over his eye-boning of Kate and all their heavy breathing. He’s definitely got that charm and charisma necessary to be a leading man of any orientation. And he’s pretty to look at! I needed my smelling salts. I saw a GQ interview of him and he is just friggin adorably delightful.
It hurts when you’ve been doing well for years. And you fall off the wagon. And instead of being able to say (to jobs and such) “I’m an alcoholic and I relapsed. And I need a couple days or so to get back on track.” You have to make something and lie…which does nothing to help your sobriety.
I just want to hug you for this comment.
Plenty of straight actors have great chemistry on screen and are totally platonic behind the scenes. Same difference, they’re actors. Some have chemistry together and some don’t. They definitely do.
He was great in season 2. I remember watching season 1 and his character was kinda whatever to me. But wow his chemistry with Simone Ashley in S2 was jumping off the screen, they’re both very attractive and enjoyable to watch. I’m glad that he’s comfortable discussing his sexuality and doesn’t feel the need to hide it. It’s 2022, people should be able to understand that he’s an actor, he’s not his character in real life.
Why does his hair look so different in the show versus in real life? Although I’m just glad they ditched those awful sideburns from the first season. Yikes.
Anyway, glad he’s being himself out there in the world. And hope his career gets a bump post-Bridgerton. Glad to see he and Simone Ashley back next season. Phew.
There’s still people in Hollywood still afraid to cast gay men in straight roles because they can’t conceive that they’ll be convincing or that women won’t swoon over gay men. I think Jonathan has proved them wrong on both counts.
I’ve been following him for a while and I hope he goes on to have a great career, he’s so talented and seems like a genuinely lovely person. For the record, he’s not classicly trained, he’s had no training at all but he’s been an actor since he was 6.
Jonathan Bailey is HOT as Anthony Bridgerton. He is truly exceptional at playing that buttoned up, overcome with familial duties, uptight, smoldering brother. I swooned. And Jonathan Bailey? Watching interviews with him is delightful. He’s adorable and charming and seems like a sweet, down to Earth guy, which makes him playfully sexy. I now love both Jonathan Bailey and Anthony Bridgerton, who are not anything alike, and I think that makes him pretty impressive.
I love that he is gay and playing this part. I think it just helps further LGBTQ+ rights/opportunities in Hollywood. You can be a gay man and play a heterosexual man and people can still find your performance sexy and engaging.
And I do think he is very sexy lol.
He absolutely became the character. It didn’t matter to me that he was gay what mattered to me was that he was Anthony Bridgerton when in character and he didn’t disappoint!
YES! I feel this way about Luke Evans, too. He is very handsome, very talented, and very believable as a leading man to either sex. I hope we get to a point where we just hire the best actor for the job and their personal lives don’t play a role at all.
Luke Evans is another great example! This has to stop being an issue, for the mainstream media.
I hope this opens up the world to him. He just showed everyone that queer actors can definitely be leading men/women because it’s called ACTING, not reality.
Kind of a tangent, but why do writers still posit the phrase “sex symbol?” No one is going to want to be referred to as a sex symbol! It’s objectifying (even when applied to men) in the context of someone’s art, and in this day and age when sex and sexuality are understood to be a wide spectrum of activities and preferences, calling one person a sex symbol (and asking them about being one!!) is a weird writing/reporting decision. That was kind of a freestyle – what do others think?
I agree, aren’t we past that yet? Does any actor, male or female, have to be a sex symbol? Is the mindset still ‘you’ve got to be ‘f*ckable to be hired’ still in play?
Yes. It’s a fantasy. Thus, Rege-Jean Page from last season. For certain roles, actors need sex appeal.
I think there’s a difference between someone being called a “sex symbol” and someone just being sexy. Lots of people are sexy! Sexy looks different on everyone! I guess my reaction was to the trope of declaring a sexy person a sex symbol by virtue of being sexy. Aren’t we all sexy? And not every role an actor portrays is necessarily going to be a sexy role. So are they still a sex symbol in that instance?
I don’t think I’ve typed the word “sexy” so many times in so few sentences! Ha!
Bridgerton S2 is ok. Jonathan Bailey must have gone to the Andrew Scott school of hot, smoldering looks. What is with these gay, British men? They know how to look at a woman.
He’s great in Crashing.
I loved him in Crashing. I wasnt too sure about the Chewing Gum episode but the show as a whole was amazing.
I was struck by how beautiful Jonathan Bailey was when I first saw him in Bridgerton season 1. I know his character was supposed to be this awful meddling older brother but I still really liked him. Then when I saw Rege Jean-Page, I was transfixed. Cue the Page obsession all the until season 2.
Anthony’s character just leaps out and I’m back to obsessing over Jonathan Bailey. Every flinch or restrained look on his face is perfection. You can see the torment just under the surface and he’s so good at emoting with the intensity of his gaze, clenching of his jaw, and the tremble of his mouth. Props to the director and to Jonathan for really bringing it. I’ve still got 3 more episodes of season 2 to watch but I’m dreading the end bc I want to see more of Anthony and Kate!
Bridgerton is such a hit and I’m ecstatic for everyone involved. They knew exactly who to cast. I’m cheering that it’s heavy on men eye candy!
Ohhh he is awesome in W1A.
Yay Jonathan Bailey! I wish him all the success & can’t wait to see his next project.
I absolutely loved season 2 just as much as the first season. Johnathan completely owned the screen as Anthony more so in this season than last. Anthony’s tense f*ck boy sexy angsty hotness completely filled the void left by the duke of Hastings. The chemistry between him and simone was absolutely fire.
I’m glad Bridgerton cast an openly gay actor as a romantic lead and I’m hoping it will pave the way for other openly gay actors to be given the same opportunities.
Simply said, I watch the show for the characters not the actors who play them! He was wonderful as Anthony this season, and Simone was great as Kate. Actors acting. Good grief, this man’s private life is all his own. Can’t wait for season 3!
This season of Bridgerton was a bit uneven but his character and Kate had amazing chemistry. It seemed to end rather abruptly and I want to know if the sister found a match. Also can’t stand the Featherington storyline at all and hope that family either goes away or sorts themselves out. Also Eloise was kind of unlikable and self centered. Bailey is gorgeous and a good actor. His character was a bit Colin Firth Mr. Darcy and I liked the show overall. I never thought about if he was gay or not, so shrug.
He is gay!! My bubble is busted. The sex/love scenes are so real how can he fake it like that? In the season finale episode he delivers a performance that I thought only a straight man could possible be able to convey. What an actor.
Ok, now I am confused. Wasn’t it just a blink ago that some straight actor was criticized for playing a gay man? As in only gay can play gay. But here we have an equally talented gay man playing straight, and no one gives a flying fig. Is this a double standard or one of those mysteries of the film world, about which I know nothing.
It’s because it’s so much harder for openly gay actors to get cast in heterosexual roles, than it is for straight actors to get cast in gay roles. That’s why many actors stay in the closet because they wouldn’t get they roles they get if they came out.
I love the costumes. The story in Season 1 was boring.
I don’t know why it’s still a ‘thing’ to hide or maybe I’m going to prove myself wrong… just that whenever I’ve seen an actor and a ooooh who’s that? Enough to look him up, more times than not he’s been gay. So they’re not hiding but then again, I had to look them up, they’re not getting the big parts when they obviously have an ‘it’ factor, at least for me.
I might be one of the few people who was lusting over Anthony Bridgerton in season 1. So, nothing has changed for me in season 2. I still find him incredibly hot and fun to look at. Who cares if he’s gay? He’s an actor.
Btw I’d love to see more openly gay, gorgeous actors playing straight love interests. Matt Bomer anyone?
OMG. On my life, I just commented as the comments came, but yes, Matt Bomer is exactly the proof.
Jonathan Groff is another.
Luke Evans. The Jonathans Groff and Bailey. Ooof. Very hot dudes who happen to be gay but have done fantastic work in straight romances. Matt Bomer is quite lovely looking too, but I’ve never seen him in anything outside of some season of American horror story, in which he played a gay man.
I’ve never understood why it matters if the actor is gay, as long as the chemistry is believable. It’s not as though the average female viewer has a chance in real life if the actor is straight instead. It’s the same attitude that leads to some female fans vilifying their screen crush’s gf or wife. (Heaven forfend a gf or wife who is a woman of colour.)
Exactly, they’re ACTING.
Two actors can have convincing chemistry together and it has nothing to do if they’re gay or straight.
I just finished Season 2 last night. He was amazing! Both of the main actors were amazing. I was completely caught up in the love story. How uplifting to read that Bailey didn’t have to sell his soul or live a crushing lie to find success.