Joel Kim Booster says ‘recreational sex’ outside of his open marriage adds pressure
Joel Kim Booster had his mainstream breakthrough with Fire Island. (Image: Getty)
Joel Kim Booster has spoken about the boundaries of his non-monogamous marriage, saying he is not looking for love outside his relationship and that any sex outside it is “all recreational”, in a GQ interview.
Discussing how he and his husband define their relationship, the comedian and actor said: “I’m not looking for love outside my relationship. We’re not polyamorous and so the sex I’m having outside of my relationship is all recreational at this point.”
Booster also connected that dynamic to the way he experiences pressure around his appearance, saying he feels it more intensely as a gay man than as an actor.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Fire Island star Joel Kim Booster
“Oh, I would say I feel more pressure from being gay than I do from being an actor for sure. Absolutely. 100%,” he said.
Hookups and body image pressure
Booster said that even when he plays attractive characters, acting can be “less focused on my body”, while casual sex can feel more directly tied to looks.
“My husband loves me for a lot of reasons other than besides what I look like, and that’s great. But when I am hooking up with a rando, it is probably going to be mostly about what I look like,” he said.
He added that body standards can feel especially unforgiving among men. “They’re much less forgiving about body ideals than anyone else, especially gay men,” Booster said.
In the interview, he referenced his on-screen nudity in Fire Island and Industry, and contrasted that with clothed roles such as Nicholas on Loot and Dr. Park in Scrubs.
Booster’s career and public candour
Booster wrote and starred in the gay romcom Fire Island (2022), a modern riff on Pride and Prejudice that became a contemporary queer touchstone.
A stand-up comic and TV writer-performer, he has built a persona that blends sharp cultural commentary with candid sex-and-dating humour, and he often speaks publicly about gay dating culture, body image, and desirability politics in queer spaces.
He previously announced he was engaged to John Michael Sudsina, before the pair later married on what he described as the “best day of his life”.
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