Jonathan Bailey made hearts pound as the hunky bachelor Anthony Bridgerton in Netflix’s popular period-piece drama Bridgerton, but who is he dating in real life?
The Oxfordshire-born actor was a regular on both stage and screen in his native England—including in TV series like the ITV crime drama Broadchurch and the Channel 4 comedy Crashing, and in stage shows such as the West End revival of Company, which won him a Laurence Olivier Award in 2019—before gaining worldwide fame as the leading man of Bridgerton’s second season in 2022.
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He’s had a jam-packed calendar ever since: the openly gay actor starred opposite Matt Bomer in the Showtime adaptation of Fellow Travelers in 2023, winning the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries and earning a Primetime Emmy nomination for his performance. Bailey can currently be seen on the big screen as Fiyero in the first part of the two-part Wicked movie and he’ll next star in Jurassic World Rebirth, hitting theaters in July 2025.
But what about his personal life? Here is everything we know about Jonathan Bailey’s current relationship status and dating history.
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Who is Jonathan Bailey dating now?
For those crushing on the Wicked actor, alas, he is taken. Bailey confirmed his relationship status in an interview with the Eastern Standard, calling his partner a “lovely man,” though he declined to name the person. Of the romance, the actor said: “It’s not secret, but it’s private…Having a private life is, for me, completely critical. I don’t know if I would be able to be as confident to speak out on other things if I felt that my whole life was up for grabs.”
Related: Cynthia Erivo Is Building a ‘Wicked’ Net Worth
Who else has Jonathan Bailey dated?
The 36-year-old Brit was rumored to have been in a relationship with fellow actor James Ellis from 2019 to 2022. Though neither ever publicly confirmed the romance, the Bridgerton star did attend the Olivier Awards with Ellis back in 2019 and shared a celebratory smooch with the man when he won the Best Actor in a Supporting Role award for Company.
Other than that, Bailey has been pretty private when it comes to his, well, private life. Though proudly gay, the performer has previously detailed the fears he felt about revealing his sexuality when first breaking out in Hollywood. In an interview with GQ, he recalled hearing the following advice second-hand from an 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,'” Bailey said.
“All it takes is for one of those people in that position of power to say that, and it ripples through,” he continued. “So, yeah, of course I thought that. Of course, I thought that in order to be happy, I needed to be straight.”
Thankfully, he eventually moved past those fears and decided to live his life truthfully, Hollywood be damned. “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 getting a part,” Bailey told the outlet.
Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images
Did Jonathan Bailey and Matt Bomer ever date?
Jonathan Bailey and costar Matt Bomer showcased white-hot chemistry together in Showtime’s Fellow Travelers, but that steamy, dreamy connection was all for TV’s sake. They are simply close friends. Bomer, who has been married to his husband, publicist Simon Hall, since 2011 and with whom he shares three children, told PEOPLE magazine that he and his screen partner “are bonded for life” after filming Fellow Travelers (and its copious love scenes) together. “It’s a very sacred friendship for me,” he said. “I love Jonathan.”
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