Richard Armitage is currently smashing it as the mysterious doctor, Matthew Nolan, in ITVX’s new show, Red Eye. But how much do you know about the star’s life behind the cameras? Find out more about the actor’s relationship status here…
While the 52-year-old keeps his relationship very private and hasn’t posted photos of a potential partner on his social media, he did open up about his boyfriend to the Evening Standard while discussing the Netflix show Obsession, revealing that they had discussed the raunchy sex scenes before filming.
He explained: “We did talk about it. I reassured him that it was all going to be fine, and that we were being well looked after. Charlie [Murphy] and I have met each other’s partners and gone for dinner.”
The actor, who is perhaps best known for his roles in Fool Me Once and The Stranger as well as The Hobbit trilogy, has previously opened up about his sexuality, and how he came out when he was a teenager. He told Radio Times: “[It] happened when I was 19 – to anybody who mattered – and I was always waiting for that question to punch me in the face, and it never did. I thought, ‘Are people being polite, or is it that they don’t want to know?’
“I don’t know that I ever wanted to put myself in front of the work I was doing, anything about my family or personal life. I just thought, ‘Let the work speak for itself.’ […] I love the idea that whatever gender, sexuality, the fluidity of who you love, how you identify, is not fixed.
“That was always a thing: if I declare who I am and my sexuality, then I’m saying it’s fixed and I don’t know that, or if I might feel something for somebody further down the line. I doubt it, but I don’t know. It’s more relaxed now. As a writer and producer, I do wonder if anybody has to be defined by who they’re in love with.”
He also shared a post of the Pride flag back in 2021, writing: “#idahobit2021 Be grateful for love, however, it finds you. Be happy that you have the capacity to feel it, whoever it’s for. It’s a short life. Live it, in Love.”
Who does Richard play in Red Eye?
In the show, Richard plays Matthew Nolan, and opened up about the role to ITVX. He said: “He's a doctor, so on paper he should be extremely trustworthy. I trusted him at the beginning of the script, but then there were points in the story where I started doubting him.
“Is he a spy? Is he some sort of courier or mule? He had gained my trust, but then I wondered if this man was really everything he was telling us. It flips between scenes, and you wonder what he's up to, which is really interesting to play.”