On-screen romances often bring co-stars closer together, and sometimes blur the line between fiction and reality for fans. Yerin Ha opens up about the importance of separating fantasy from real life when it comes to how the audience sees her and her Bridgerton co-star Luke Thompson’s private lives.
Bridgerton is no different in putting a spotlight on the relationship between its main characters every season, with Ha and Thompson’s effortless pairing during the press tour leading fans to overanalyze their relationship. In an interview with The Nightly, Ha calls her co-star a “dear friend” after working together for 10 months, but admits they can’t control every fan’s perception of them.
“Luke is a dear, dear friend, I adore him as a friend,” Ha said. “We worked together for a very intense period of time for nine, 10 months. But I can’t control what people project onto us, but my friendship with him offscreen is different to what’s onscreen. It’s about being genuine, and my love for Luke as a friend is genuine.”
The topic of conversation switched to use the stars of Heated Rivalry as an example of fans becoming fixated on Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams and unable to separate their on-screen characters from reality.
Ha believes that the fans are so “immersed” in what’s on screen that they only see “that character rather than the person.” The Bridgerton star goes on to say that social media also plays a role in being unable to “separate” one from the other, and “differentiate an actor from the character.”
Since the release of Bridgerton Season 4 and the press tour, fans have put a magnifying glass on Ha and Thompson. Many believe the two are far more cozy than simple co-stars and have an innate desire for their on-screen romance to become real. While the two actors have never confirmed a relationship or anything beyond friendship, Ha warns that they also don’t owe people an explanation.
“I’m not sure what there is to do except remind people in a gentle, polite way, that we are also humans and we don’t owe an explanation about what we do with our personal lives. Our private lives and our public-facing selves are very different,” she said.
“It is an interesting time when people feel like they have the right to be able to say what they want about you, but I think we should be able to just give more grace to people.”
The actor does admit that the fandom’s reaction to Season 4 and their acceptance of her into the Bridgerton universe has been “exciting” and “fun.”
