Fellow Travelers’ Jonathan Bailey: ‘my life was threatened for being gay but I’m safe; so many people aren’t’
https://t.co/PNfFg8FgqR pic.twitter.com/Wr52Jszeqq— Standard Culture (@ESCulture) December 13, 2023
-“Bridgerton”, “Fellow Travelers” and “Wicked” star Jonathan Bailey, revealed that his life was recently threatened for being gay, it happened in an American coffee shop
A few weeks ago he was with Shonda Rhimes in Washington DC at an annual event for the LGBTQ+ organization The Human Rights Campaign, where he met President Biden. “My first political gala. I had the most amazing night; had a drink; couldn’t sleep; buzzing. I woke up the next morning, it was like a montage. Sunshine, I was like, this is brilliant. I went into a coffee shop, and I was wearing a Human Rights Campaign cap from the night before. And the young lady who I was ordering from recognised me from Bridgerton, we were just chatting. And a man arrived behind me and he said, ‘Are you famous?’ And I said something like, ‘I’m really famous for ordering coffee,’ which is actually quite an annoying thing to say”
“And then he got my cap, and he pulled it off my head and he threw it across the room and he said, ‘get out of this f***ing coffee shop, you queer.”
The room went still, Bailey remembers. But he walked over, picked up his hat, and put it back on his head. “If you don’t take that cap off, I’m gonna f***ing shoot you,” said the man from Pennsylvania. “Where I’m from, people like me kill people like you.”
Jonathan credits one girl named Angela that came out, started recording with her phone, so the man left
“My life was threatened. My body believed it; my brain didn’t and it took me a while to really catch up with it. But I’ve got friends and security. There are so many people that don’t. They are surrounded by that every day, and the torment of what that must be like, the amount of fear that was generated… If that’s what children are surrounded by, they’re not going to be able to grow in any way. .
– Regarding “Fellow Travelers, he spoke of the importance of having “gay actors chronicling the oppression and the trauma of it, I think it only adds to the experience. It’s exciting that people welcome it”
– He revealed that he’s in a relationship with “a lovely man”, but does not reveal more. “It’s not secret, but it’s private,” he says. “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.”
– He was filming season 2 of “Bridgerton”, “Fellow Travelers” and “Wicked” at the same time
– After being snapped at Wimbledon with his “Wicked” co-star Ariana Grande, a newspaper was calling his agent threatening to out him as straight. “I’m in two minds about whether that’s a really good sign of progression”, he said
– He moved out of London to be closer to his 93 years old Nana during lockdown, he talked with her about his character in Fellow Travelers, Tim. Jonny says that “She’s “blown away” by the show, and “she said to my sister – ‘I didn’t know he had it in him.’ I actually want that on a T-shirt.””
✨NEW✨ Clips of Jonny and Matt Bomer chatting to Drew Barrymore about all things Fellow Travelers and puppies!
🎥: The Drew Barrymore Show#jonathanbailey #mattbomer pic.twitter.com/asSiIoBGfl
— Jonathan Bailey Daily ✨ (@jbaileydaily) December 13, 2023
✨NEW✨ Jonny and the cast of Fellow Travelers cast on the Drew Barrymore Show! Airing Wednesday.
📸: noahjrkts ♥️ #jonathanbailey #fellowtravelers pic.twitter.com/5brr5jA8go
— Jonathan Bailey Daily ✨ (@jbaileydaily) December 12, 2023
✨NEW✨ Jonny and Matt Bomer attending a special screening of Maestro in LA.
📸: @cravemedia_ #jonathanbailey #mattbomer pic.twitter.com/IaYSDDDAit
— Jonathan Bailey Daily ✨ (@jbaileydaily) December 13, 2023
❤️🔥 pic.twitter.com/KNLTOq3xlc
— Jonathan Bailey Daily ✨ (@jbaileydaily) December 13, 2023
✨NEW✨ Jonny and Matt Bomer at a screening of the finale of Fellow Travelers in LA!
📸: jasonboegh#jonathanbailey #mattbomer #fellowtravelers pic.twitter.com/hW5s9skZle
— Jonathan Bailey Daily ✨ (@jbaileydaily) December 12, 2023
✨NEW✨ Jonny and Andrew Scott at a screening of All of Us Strangers on December 10th!
📸: Todd Williamson#jonathanbailey #andrewscott pic.twitter.com/R5GTQDT0BU
— Jonathan Bailey Daily ✨ (@jbaileydaily) December 12, 2023
✨NEW✨ Jonny asking Kylie Minogue a question and living his best life at “An Audience with Kylie”
🎥: ITV#jonathanbailey #kylieminogue pic.twitter.com/XNqf7IsUMZ
— Jonathan Bailey Daily ✨ (@jbaileydaily) December 11, 2023