Is Richard Madden a bisexual icon? A) Yes, B) HELL YES, C) Maybe, D) No or E) TBD. I can’t decide either. All I know is that Madden has dated women in the past, and then this year, he seemingly went public with his live-in relationship with Brandon Flynn. They lived together in LA, they sauntered around LA with their arms around each other, and they attended events together and more. It felt like Richard was pulling a Kristen Stewart, by that I mean – he was confirming something through photos, simply by NOT hiding. He never said one word about whether he and Brandon were together romantically. But whatever it was, it’s over?
Richard Madden was no stranger to a hostile environment as Sgt David Budd in BBC1 drama Bodyguard, but this one’s got the better of him. He’s had a huge fallout with best pal Brandon Flynn, star of Netflix show 13 Reasons Why, and they are no longer sharing the same house in Los Angeles. And making it clear they haven’t just drifted apart, Brandon has asked bosses at fashion house Versace not to invite Richard to a party the brand is throwing next month.
The pair forged a close friendship earlier this year after Richard moved to the US to further his career. US actor Brandon, who has dated Sam Smith, will be the face of a new Versace collection next year and doesn’t want to see his former pal at any of his events for the company.
A source close to the pair said: “Richard and Brandon bonded over being up-and-coming actors in the industry and decided to share a place while both working in LA. But they have fallen out in the past few months and have cut ties with each other. Brandon has made it clear he doesn’t want to see Richard because he asked the team at Versace not to invite him to a party they are having at the beginning of December. Richard has been dressed by the brand a few times and he spoke with (Elton John’s friend) Donatella Versace to prepare for his role as John Reid in Rocketman. But as they are working with Brandon now, they are respecting his wishes and haven’t asked Richard to attend the bash.”
Are we allowed to mourn the end of a relationship which was never really confirmed? I’ll mourn it. I thought Richard and Brandon were a cute couple and I liked seeing a “hot actor” be so “whatever, I don’t care” about his public image. I wonder what led to the breakup? It sounds like they really, really fell out.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid and WENN.
I think the answer is E
Kind of bummed for them if it is over .
Damn it!! I was rooting for them!!!😭😭😭
And to answer your question, it’s B!!!
*puts on tinfoil hat*
Kind of seems like Richard used Brandon while promoting Rocketman and Brandon feels burned. Hence taking the step of making sure he’s not invited.
I’m honestly curious, how did he “use” Brandon Flynn? I’ve actually never heard of Brandon Flynn, but I have definitely heard of Richard Madden. I would think Madden had the higher profile, but I’m kind of culturally clueless a lot.
It just seems like he wanted to be in a public-ish relationship with a man. And Brandon fit the bill! Just seems kind of shady that they seemed to split so soon after the movie run was over and that Brandon feels so strongly about it.
Who knows though. Just getting my conspiracy theorist on!
Rocketman has been out of the cinema for months now though? I mean, it released in May. It’s November now. Fans seem to have figured out they were most likely dating from around December last year, roughly. It’s not like they pap strolled their way around the cameras for 2 weeks before the movie came out and broke up 2 weeks after it was released. They were apparently quietly together for almost a year and have been for months since all the hype around Rocketman went away and the world stopped paying attention to them. That doesn’t seem like anybody using anybody to me. Seems like it just didn’t work out. Which is sad, but happens all the time.
I want it to be B, so I’m saying B!
It does sound like more than just a break up between friends. It seems messier than that if they’re no longer speaking and they’re asking to not be at the same events together.
They were totally dating. Madden confirmed it by saying, “I don’t talk about my relationships.”
Ehhhh, icon? Really? You certainly don’t have to define your sexuality but at least Stewart will openly acknowledge that she dates women. I’ve seen a bit too much, “oh they’re roommates” thrown around to give him that much credit. Again, he’s under no obligations, but I’ll save the icon label for those that are open and out.
reminds me of that game on “billy on the street”, queen latifah or brave person?
I mean, it wasn’t like Kristen Stewart walked up to a microphone right after she started dating her first girlfriend after breaking up with R.Pat to announce it to the world. Her girlfriends were here gal pals, housemates, roommates, etc. for years. It’s only in the last year or two that she’s started being more open about it. And, to be frank, people are much more comfortable with wlw than they are with mlm.
Everyone comes out in their own ways and in their own time. It seems like Richard Madden’s way was super obvious pap strolls and other ways of signaling without needing to announce it. Which, again, is *exactly* what K.Stew did.
Plus, I doubt he’s really got much control over how tabloids describe him (especially if he doesn’t feel the need to publically announce his sexuality) and the tabloids know that they can say “good friends” and stuff like that without risking getting in trouble for “outting” people – even though they are actually outting people anyway.
And to be frank, as a bisexual woman who came to that realization after I was married to a man bc I thought that *every* person was somewhat attracted to the members of their own gender (funnily enough, it was my husband who helped me figure it out), I think that part of bi-culture is absolutely about struggling to figure out how to come out in a way that doesn’t result in people thinking you’re “straight” or “gay” depending on whomever you’re dating at the time. And lots of bisexuals keep their same-sex relationships much more undercover because its simpler – Richard Madden could have easily shut down these rumors and been more discrete but he *didn’t* and to me, that’s just as good (maybe better) than him doing the cover of Out and making a big deal about dating a guy [especially since, it seems, that the relationship wasn’t a keeper].
Perhaps if he becomes involved with a man in a more serious way he will change his mind and “come out” but in the meantime, I don’t think you can really say he isn’t out and at least somewhat proud because those pap strolls and everything didn’t happen by accident. There aren’t that many open (or nearly open) bisexual actors out there, I vote we get to keep this one.
I go with B as well. Hoped it was true about them but I am here for him if needs comforting.
Love the “close friend” and “roommate/sharing a house” language. It reminds me of the years and years that Kristen Stewart’s girlfriends were all called her gal pals.
I don’t even care, we [the bisexuals] have claimed Richard Madden and we’re not giving him up this easily!
I have a bisexual female roommate and we have nothing going on but a friendship together. We are both in our 30’s. Isn’t it possible they were JUST good friends?
I don’t know why I’m apparently feeling strongly about this but here we are, but do you share your house to help defray costs? Or is it just because you don’t want to live alone? Because if it is the prior, I doubt that is an issue that either of them have. And if it was the second, they have to have known that living together would lead most people to infer exactly what we have inferred and they could have easily publically denied that they were in a relationship, but they never did.
Instead, they spent time in public looking loved up which is something that men who are close friends just don’t usually do? Like, do you know any guys who walk around arm and arm with their good friends? And that’s not even taking into account the pressure they probably face in the industry to keep it on the DL.
Defray costs because we live in a major city: Toronto. We used to each have our own one bedroom apartment. She also helps me with my senior weiner dog, who is 12.
But I do have male friends that do walk arm and arm together. Us three were at one of their wedding to a woman this August. We are all very close and my male friends are not the typical machismo men who care what other men think or want to act macho to declare they are men etc. My best friend is also a man and he has 4 kids. People have said he is gay for years, his ex wife even used it as an excuse for their divorce when in fact she was cheating all over town with other men and doesn’t want to admit that to anyone. He is just in touch with his feminine side.
” do you share your house to help defray costs? Or is it just because you don’t want to live alone? Because if it is the prior, I doubt that is an issue that either of them have”
Celebs chose not to live alone quite frequently. It makes sense in a career where you might be gone for long periods of time. Having another person there while you are gone to receive packages, give pets love, etc. Also, living in a large place alone isn’t as comfortable as having someone there. Sometimes this extra person is a long time friend, sometimes a paid employee like assistant/housekeeper, etc., but it is more common than not that there is another person living in their home.
I don’t know the Madden/Flynn situation, but living together doesn’t prove things one way or the other.
It’s obvious they were a couple. He responded, “i don’t talk about my relationships” when asked about Brandon! This leak is from Brandon’s side to extract maximum PR, it seems, because while Richard is an established actor, Brandon to my knowledge is not an “up and coming” one. However Brandon kept pretty quiet the whole time and they seemed to manage the PR well and gave gay/bi community a positive boost. I don’t know if Richard Madden / his film actually benefited from it as it might have been seen as a risky way to raise his profile.
Why would Brandon Flynn, a young American actor, who lives and works in America, is only really known at all in America, and presumably has any representatives of his also based in America, choose to leak to a British tabloid? His only real British connections are through his romantic life. I doubt either of them leaked this directly because it’s not particularly flattering to either of them. Seems more likely to me that the Sun just got the info somehow and ran with it.
Maybe. But I thought the event Flynn was organising was in Europe…?
Eh.. maybe? I haven’t actually seen anything that indicated where the event is going to be on. But regardless, Flynn isn’t the one organising it, and it’s not on him to get the media going about it. He’s apparently doing some campaign or something with Versace. It’s Versace who’ll organise the event, wherever/whatever it is, and who’ll do the media handling. He’s just the pretty face. Versace is a million times bigger than Brandon Flynn. They definitely don’t need him, a handsome guy (and a very good actor, to give him credit for that) but not all that known, to do their job FOR them. And I don’t really think this IS the kind of thing that would get buzz going around a Versace campaign, one that hasn’t even been announced yet, let alone launched. As far as I can see, this is the first anyone even has heard that Flynn is working with them and it’s almost totally lost in the Richard Madden part of the story.
I don’t think they are broken up. Brandon is filming his show at the moment wherever that takes place and Richard is filming the eternals in Europe. So naturally they wouldn’t live together.
Can I finally fantasize about Richard and Angelina getting together? He seems to be sweet and kind, and she’d really need a young pup to remind her how sexy she is, now that she’s wilding up again! Oh, a girl can dream…
Richard madden’s grey steak defies human sexuality. He’s got the best head of hair in the business….Shawn Mendes a close second.