Bridgerton queen Golda Rosheuvel was warned being openly gay would ruin her career
Golda Rosheuvel as Queen Charlotte in season two of Bridgerton. (Netflix)
Bridgerton star Golda Rosheuvel says she was warned against being openly gay by another lesbian actor.
The British actor, who returns as Queen Charlotte in Bridgerton season two, out Friday (25 March), told Out magazine that she was once warned to retreat back into the closet, despite already being openly gay.
“I remember being told…that [being out] was going to ruin my career,” she said. “I mean, it’s bulls**t.”
Golda Rosheuvel said that this warning came from a lesbian actor who she thought “was out and proud”.
“It revealed a lot about her and her insecurities and what she was going through,” she added.
“But I think it really empowered me; it really made me look at myself and go: How do I want to be? How do I want to represent myself in the world?”
Golda Rosheuvel also discussed her coming out story, explaining that although her father is a priest, he and her family have been nothing but supportive.
“You would think that [my father] would be like: ‘Hellfire, you’re gonna go to hell.’ Absolutely nothing like that at all,” she said.
Of her parents, Rosheuvel added: “They had dear, dear friends who are gay… and they worked in the community with Indigenous people, with refugees, with gays and lesbians, transgender [people], [everyone] came through our household…
“There was always joy and laughter and music and conversation and discussion about the world and about the times we were having. I feel very blessed.”
Bridgerton has won plaudits for its diverse casting, and in a previous interview with New York Post’s Page Six Golda Rosheuvel explained how the Regency-era period drama has “opened doors” for other Black actors.
She said: “I think it’s time that the door has opened and the time is now that the door is being opened by people of colour, Black and brown people, Shonda Rhimes, Tyler Perry, Oprah Winfrey, Ryan Coogler.
“Then to be able to create the space where you can have a Black queen in the highest-watched period drama on Netflix, you can have that to be able to break down the boundaries to make the space for Black and brown people to be in a lavish, sexy, scandalous, beautiful representation of life.
“The journey is not over but it’s definitely going in the right direction.”
Bridgerton season two is streaming now on Netflix.
