Harris Dickinson opens up about being sexualised after Babygirl and recounts plane encounter

Harris Dickinson says he has been shaken by the way fans sexualise him since starring in Babygirl, and he admits he hates being reduced to a heartthrob. The 29-year-old actor is currently preparing to play John Lennon in Sam Mendes’s hotly anticipated Beatles biopic series. Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, he said there was a big part of Babygirl that he 'really didn’t enjoy,' though he’s proud of the project and admires writer-director Halina Rejin and co-star Nicole Kidman.

On Babygirl, Dickinson plays an intern who becomes entangled in a dangerous affair with Kidman’s older, married character. The film drew praise for its raw, erotic energy, but Dickinson says the attention it brought him personally was hard to deal with. He said it was weird that male actors were targeted in that way, adding that it is 'OK to do this to male actors' in some circles, but he calls it a problem. 'I get a lot of women say things to me that are deeply inappropriate. Like when I was doing press for Babygirl and when we were doing the Q&A afterwards, there were some situations that were completely unacceptable. And you’re expected to just laugh it off. I think that’s why I struggled with that experience.'

On a recent trip to the United States, he recalled an uncomfortable encounter while traveling: 'On the plane, someone was like, can you dance for me?' Then she said, 'Oh, you won’t believe what I was doing when I watched that film. I won’t say the rest.' He said that is not okay and that he does not want to hear about others’ sexual experiences with this story.

Dickinson added that people might say he took on a film that was going to be somewhat erotic, and while he acknowledges the film and its approach were unique, he notes that public perception is not something he can control. 'I guess you can’t control the perception of it and the way that people want to talk about it and the narrative... I feel like I’m constantly rejecting that a little bit.'

Earlier this year, the actor, who is in a long-term relationship with British musician Rose Gray, 28, described being cast as a heartthrob as strange and said he remains uneasy with being desired. He related insecurities from his childhood—growing up as a 'really chubby boy'—that have followed him into adulthood and made him cautious about the way praise and attention are directed at him. 'I didn’t shed that until I was in my late teens,' he explained. 'So I’ve always got that in my mind, and I don’t think that ever leaves you. And it feels kind of strange to me, because it’s not something I’ve been particularly used to… being desired.' He added that he’s happy to lean into it for the right film, but it’s not something he’s comfortable with.