Adolescence’s Erin Doherty says she’s become a ‘cliche lesbian’ after moving in with girlfriend
The actor discussed her relationship on a newly released podcast (Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)
The actor discussed her relationship on a newly released podcast (Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)
Adolescence star Erin Doherty has admitted she tried to avoid being a ‘cliche lesbian’ but caved and moved in with her because she hated “saying goodbye”.
Doherty, 33, played forensic psychologist Briony Ariston in the smash-hit psychological crime drama – a role which nabbed her an Emmy – and has been in a relationship with NHS radiographer Sinead Donnelly for a number of months.
Appearing on the latest episode of Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast, which was released on Monday (5 January), Doherty explained she and Donnelly tried to make distance work at first.
“I’m such a romantic. I hate saying goodbye at the end of every day. I hated it. I’m so bad,” she said.
“People say it’s like a cliche lesbian thing, where you immediately move in, so we held on as long as we could. But I was like, I really think I should move in now.
“I tried to make it as non-cliche as possible, but I just love her. So at the start of [last] year, I moved in with her and it’s been the craziest year of my life.”
Moving in together quite soon into a relationship, just weeks or maybe even days, is a running joke in the lesbian community and is often colloquially called ‘U-Hauling’ – a slang term in lesbian lingo named after the American moving truck company of the same name.
Doherty went on to reveal she started dating Donnelly whilst living with her older sister in West Sussex.
“I had moved because I just had hit my peak stimulation and I was just at a real kind of stopping point in my life and my sister was like, come live with me,” she explained, describing how her sister has “got walks on her doorstep” and they “could just go out every morning, whenever we wanted”.
“I love my sister so much. She is just my safety net, my best friend. She’s just everything,” the actor continued.
During this time, she met her now girlfriend, who lives in North London, and the pair began to commute to see each other.
“We just came to a place where it was like, as much as I love getting on the trains and going to see her and having days in London, I also want to wake up next to you. It’s like a natural progression,” she explained.
The podcast interview dropping comes as Doherty won Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television at the Critics Choice Awards 2026 on Sunday (4 January), with Adolescence also picking gongs in the other categories it was nominated for.
