Adolescence star Erin Doherty has revealed how she finally came to terms with her sexuality after years of being left ‘unsatisfied’ dating men.
The 32-year-old, who is in a relationship with fellow actress Sophie Melville, 34, said she’d been been a ‘people pleaser’ and had boyfriends in a bid to fit in, before one ‘mind-blowing’ relationship with a woman changed everything.
Speaking on the How To Fail podcast she said: ‘It was mind blowing and it felt like I had come home, I was just like “Wow, this is a part of who I am that I’d never got to meet” which was just so crazy’.
Erin, who plays Briony Ariston in the smash hit Netflix series, went on to discuss her sexuality saying: ‘It took me a really, really long time to finally get to the point where I was like “Oh, I’m gay”‘.
‘But I think, again, because I grew up doing the social thing of going: “Oh, OK, well, I’ll have a boyfriend and I’ll do this thing” and I never questioned it’.
She continued: ‘I never really was ready to carve out that path for myself, even though looking back, I always knew that my relationships with men weren’t satisfying in that whole hearted way that I wanted them to be.’
Adolescence star Erin Doherty has revealed how she finally came to terms with her sexuality after years of being left ‘unsatisfied’ dating men
Erin (L) whois in a relationship with fellow actress Sophie Melville (R) said she’d been been a ‘people pleaser’ and had boyfriends in a bid to fit in
Erin, who also starred as Princess Anne in The Crown, first met Sophie in 2017 and the couple now live together in North London, noting that the relationship is her ‘proudest accomplishment’ but insisted they ‘never go up for the same roles’.
She told Porter in 2022: ‘She’s made me so healthy. I used to sit at home eating a bag of chocolates and now we have like, a kale salad.’
It comes after Erin’s Adolescence co-star Owen Cooper revealed which iconic role he wanted to play next after the Netflix series made the 15-year-old famous overnight.
The drama centres on schoolboy Jamie Miller (played by Owen), who is accused of murdering a girl, and is the brainchild of actor Stephen Graham, who also plays the boy’s father.
Owen admitted seeing Tom Holland, 28, in disaster drama The Impossible, based on the events of the 2004 Thailand Tsunami, which made him want to be an actor and now dreams of replacing his idol as Spiderman in the Marvel Universe.
In Adolescence the young star’s perfomance has gained plaudits and calls for a BAFTA nomination, but Owen admitted being left surprised after receiving equally supportive messages from his mates back home in Warrington.
‘I didn’t think they would, to be honest, I thought they’d take the mick. But yeah… they’ve been really, really good about it.’
He also spoke about playing the younger version Hollywood star Jacob Elordi’s Heathcliffe in the upcoming adaptation of Wuthering heights, which also stars Margot Robbie.
Erin explained how ‘mind-blowing’ relationship in her 20s with a woman changed everything: It was mind blowing and it felt like I had come home’
‘But I think, again, because I grew up doing the social thing of going: ‘Oh, OK, well, I’ll have a boyfriend and I’ll do this thing’ and I never questioned it’ (pictured in Netflix’s Adolescence)
Erin first met Sophie in 2017 and the couple now live together in North London, noting that the relationship is her ‘proudest accomplishment’ (pictured together in 2019)
‘[He is] such a nice guy, my family can say the same as well’ however he couldn’t say much more about the top secret film, but teased it was ‘fun’.
Co-stars and critics alike have praised Owen, 15, for his chilling performance, and Stephen was so impressed at the young British actor’s first audition, that he’s since revealed he turned to co-writer Jack Thorne when Owen left the room and said ‘I think that’s him’.
And Owen recently opened up about how Stephen has supported his career amid filming. The seasoned actor recommended his agent to the teen star, who came to watch a bit of episode one.
‘I got Wuthering Heights from that!’ Owen revealed in Variety. ‘But it’s been going really well. I’ve really enjoyed it. Obviously it not one-shot anymore! So I’m getting used to that. But it’s been amazing. Emerald’s lovely.’
Owen also told the outlet how Stephen was ‘always checking in on him’ during emotionally gruelling scenes – with a psychologist on set.
Elsewhere, Stephen has branded the discovery of Owen, Adolescence’s ‘biggest achievement’.
‘We always want to try and create opportunities for people who may not normally have those opportunities,’ he told The Independent.
‘From the very beginning it was a conscious decision [by the team] that we wanted someone who didn’t have much experience. Like we did find little Tommo [This is England star Thomas Thurgoose] all those years ago.
‘We wanted someone who didn’t have a lot of experience, but we knew that what we were doing and what we were trying to ask this young person to do was cosmic in many ways.
It comes after Erin’s Adolescence co-star Owen Cooper revealed which iconic role he wanted to play next after the Netflix series made the 15-year-old famous overnight
The drama centres on 13-year-old Jamie Miller (played by Owen), who is accused of murdering a schoolgirl, and is the brainchild of actor Stephen Graham, who also plays the boy’s father
‘It’s a huge undertaking, but we cast Owen, who had no experience, he’d done a couple of little theatre workshops, and he was just starting to do little bits in school.’
Stephen said the idea for the series came to him from looking at the epidemic of knife crime in the UK.
Joining his wife Hannah Walters in chatting to Chris Moyles on Radio X, the actor said: ‘Okay, let’s get this serious nature of the show out the way, and then we can have some fun, with all due respect.
‘Look, it started when I read an article, and it was an article about a young boy who’d stabbed a young girl to death, and it just, you know, it made me feel cold.
‘And then a couple of months later, there was a piece on the news, and it was about a young boy who’d stabbed a young girl to death, and if I’m really honest with you, they hurt my heart.
‘And these two incidents were opposite ends of the country. And I just thought, “Why? Why is this happening?”
‘Not just because I’m a father, but I think any kind of human being with an ounce of moral compass can look at that kind of situation and think, “What’s happening? What’s going on with society today that we’re in?”‘
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