Skip to main content

Home Culture Culture Film & TV

Nicholas Galitzine says he’s ‘straight’, feels ‘perhaps guilty’ for playing gay and ‘terrified’ of being typecast as ‘a cut of beef’

The star has played gay roles in Red, White & Royal Blue and Mary & George

By Jamie Tabberer

Nicholas Galitzine in Purple Hearts
Nicholas Galitzine in Purple Hearts (Image: Netflix)

Nicholas Galitzine has said he identifies as “straight” while also sharing that he feels “somewhat guilty” for playing gay roles in projects like Red, White & Royal Blue.

The 29-year-old starred opposite Taylor Zakhar Perez in last year’s Amazon Studios hit about a British prince and the son of a US President falling in love.

The pair are now set to return for a sequel, it was announced today (Friday 10 May 2024).

“I see those characters as not solely their sexuality” – Nicholas Galitzine

Speaking in a new interview with GQ, Galitzine said of his sexuality: “I identify as a straight man, but I have been a part of some incredible queer stories. I felt a sense of uncertainty sometimes about whether I’m taking up someone’s space, and perhaps guilt. At the same time, I see those characters as not solely their sexuality.”

As well as Red, White & Royal Blue, Galitzine has played queer characters in the TV show Mary & George and the rugby drama film Handsome Devil.

On his appearance, the actor – currently starring opposite Anne Hathaway in The Idea Of You – told the outlet: “I’m not gonna ask you to cry me a river here, but it’s been difficult being part of a conversation that feels very much like I am a cut of beef at a meat market. I think that being my defining feature is something I’m constantly terrified of.”

Elsewhere in the interview, the Purple Hearts star star also reflected on the subject of masculinity.

“I was a very scared young man,” he shared. “And I think a lot of men are really scared. I think they’re scared of their own mortality. I think they’re scared of being found out. There’s this notion in masculinity that you have to be in control and certain of everything.”