{"id":456918,"date":"2026-06-02T10:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T10:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/456918\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T10:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T10:39:08","slug":"english-star-jonathan-bailey-feared-being-gay-would-hurt-his-acting-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/456918\/","title":{"rendered":"English star Jonathan Bailey feared being gay would hurt his acting career"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u201cAnd of course if that meant that it was going to impede any potential work, then I was willing to take that risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 38-year-old actor said he felt grateful to see gay love stories on TV and in films such as 2005\u2019s Brokeback Mountain and he hopes the next generation won\u2019t feel they need to hide their sexuality from the world.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Bailey, honoured at the Elton John Impact Awards, has emphasised the importance of representation and visibility. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI wonder if the next generation just needs to know how to harness the joy that they can communicate to their fans and in the stories they tell.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd just know that we\u2019re going to need it more than ever. Because obviously it\u2019s a striking time where there\u2019s a real threat that things can slip.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s an amazing thing, isn\u2019t it? Generational relationships and being in a part of a community where we are all just benefactors of who came before us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bailey is among the stars being honoured by the Elton John Impact Awards, which recognise trailblazing LGBTQ+ community members and allies.<\/p>\n
Other honourees include Orange Is the New Black actor Laverne Cox, singer Melissa Etheridge, tennis legend Billie Jean King, country musician Orville Peck and pop star Chappell Roan.<\/p>\n
The honourees are featuring in a series of podcast interviews with the Rocket Man star, who said: \u201cI\u2019ve always believed in the power of storytelling to connect us and challenge us.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese conversations bring together the people who have shaped LGBTQ+ culture and fought for dignity at a time when the world too often looked away.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome are friends who stood beside me through the Aids crisis, others are carrying the torch forward with the new generation. Hearing their stories and reflecting on how far we\u2019ve come, and how far we still have to go, is deeply humbling.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is history that cannot be forgotten and these are voices that must be heard.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cAnd of course if that meant that it was going to impede any potential work, then I was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[5813,83056,682,2046,430,11908,156,13994,21327,232255,293,14046,16411,111,139,69,2737,6730],"class_list":["post-456918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-acting","tag-bailey","tag-being","tag-career","tag-celebrities","tag-english","tag-entertainment","tag-feared","tag-gay","tag-hindrance","tag-his","tag-hurt","tag-jonathan","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-star","tag-would"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}