English actor, Jonathan Bailey has revealed that he is considering adopting a child and co-parenting with a woman or a man.
The Olivier Award-winning star of Wicked and Bridgerton, 36, who is openly gay, said that he was currently reading books on adoption but had too much on his plate to start a family at the moment.
Speaking to British Vogue about fatherhood, he said: “Yes, it’s such a privilege for a man, but I can’t bring children into my lifestyle now. I want to make sure I’m going to be present; I’m reading books on adoption.”
He added: “I might co-parent with a woman, but I’m thinking it will be with a man.”
Bailey, who rose to fame after starring in Netflix’s popular Regency romp Bridgerton, has previously discussed how his role as the eligible straight bachelor led him to become “hyper-aware” of his sexuality.
“I was hyper-aware of the complexities and nuances of how I felt about myself being a gay man, let alone a gay actor, and suddenly finding success in playing a straight part and talking about that,” he said in an interview in November.
The stage and screen actor told Vogue that his sexuality was more of a gradual realisation, only coming out as gay to his family and close friends in his early 20s after a two-year relationship with a girl.
He said: “It’s interesting with the binary, where you’re perceived to be either this or that.
“That’s how I saw it at the time, but there are so many nuances to it. My experience of that relationship was not that I was in the shadows. She remains one of my best friends.”
“I think other people understood my sexuality before I was even aware of it,” he added.
He has recently become a patron for the charity Just Like Us, which supports young LGBTQ+ people to “thrive” in school and beyond, and admitted he is aware that challenges still exist.
“I’ve always been a confident hand-holder in relationships, [but] I had a boyfriend who wasn’t experienced at holding hands in public. We got heckled in London.”