Actor Richard Armitage Comes Out As Gay Over Obsession Full Frontal Scene

Richard Armitage has casually come out while discussing his latest Netflix project, Obsession.

The English author and actor shot to worldwide fame for playing dwarf king Thorin Oakenshield in the trilogy adaptation of The Hobbit and has been known for playing notable roles like Guy of Gisborne in Robin Hood and Francis Dolarhyde in Hannibal. 

Armitage, while discussing filming the risqué scenes in the Netflix miniseries, with The Evening Standard, casually name-dropped his partner. 

“We did talk about it. I reassured him that it was all going to be fine, and we were being well looked after,” Armitage said, in response to a question about filming a full-frontal scene for the series.  

Obsession

The new Netflix mini-series Obsession, directed by husband-and-wife creative duo Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn (Ordinary Love, Good Vibrations), is a four-episode British series starring Richard Armitage, Charlie Murphy and Rush Shah. 

The show is an adaptation of Josephine Hart’s book Damage and is described as a thrilling and seductive series that explores forbidden desire, lust, and obsession.  According to Netflix, the story is about a “respected London surgeon’s affair with his son’s fiancée turns into an erotic infatuation that threatens to change their lives forever”. 

The interview with The Evening Standard marked the first time that Armitage had publicly used male pronouns when discussing his partner.

Gender And Sexuality

“Obsession” has just been released on Netflix and it’s fair to say that my obsession with Richard Armitage is very much alive and kicking… #ObsessionNetflix pic.twitter.com/1M0cP6DgjS

— Steven Bonaventure x (@absolutegazelle) April 13, 2023

Armitage expressed gratitude to the younger generations and their openness about discussing sexuality and gender, telling Radio Times that he loved conversations that revolved around the fluidity of identity. 

“I love the conversation with the younger generation,” he told Radio Times. “I love the idea that whatever gender, sexuality, the fluidity of who you love, how you identify, is not fixed,” Armitage said. 

“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”, the actor added. 

The erotic-thriller has been negatively received by critics, with The Guardian rating it two stars and others like the Independent UK stating that the  BDSM thriller “might unintentionally be the funniest show of the year”. 

🚨BREAKING NUDES🚨 Netflix premiered the new series "Obsession" today, and i wasn't expecting much with nudity, but in the first episode, star Richard Armitage (Thorin in The Hobbit, Strike Back, Berlin Station, Castlevania) showed more than he ever has before. pic.twitter.com/GWiKUeHjoP

— snicks (@therealSnicks) April 13, 2023

Coming Out At 19

Though the actor came out to his family at the age of 19, he had been private about his personal life when addressing the media, telling The Telegraph in October last year that he didn’t think it was a “big deal”. 

 “[Coming out] 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?” Armitage told Radio Times.

“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’”, he said.