Harris Dickinson Opens Up About Being Sexualised After Babygirl and Uncomfortable Fan Encounters

Harris Dickinson says he has been left shaken by how fans have sexualised him since starring in Babygirl, the provocative drama that paired him with Nicole Kidman. The 29-year-old actor, who is preparing to portray John Lennon in Sam Mendes’ forthcoming Beatles biopic series, spoke candidly about the fallout from the film during an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. He described the movie as a work that explored obsession and desire in a way that felt essential to him as an actor, even as he acknowledged the personal toll the attention has taken.

“I think there was a big part of that that I really didn’t enjoy,” Dickinson said. “I’m proud to have worked on it, I love Halina [Reijn, the writer, director and producer] and working with Nicole was the most exciting thing for me. But the way the fans reduced some of it was quite strange. You can’t really control that and you can’t really get caught up in it, but people are strange.” The actor emphasized that he does not resent the project, but he cautioned against reducing a complex work to mere sexualization, noting that the attention has sometimes felt intrusive and unfair.

Dickinson continued to say that society’s tendency to sexualize male actors, particularly younger ones, has become more accepted in recent years. He added that he has received a steady stream of remarks from fans that cross lines he regards as unacceptable. “I think it’s OK to do this to male actors, weirdly. That’s the problem,” he said. “I think it’s become OK and acceptable to do that to younger male actors.” He described a recurring reality of press events and fan interactions in which several comments felt deeply inappropriate, remarking that audiences often laugh off discomfort that should not be tolerated.

“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,” Dickinson said. He recalled a specific incident while he was traveling to the United States, in which a fellow traveler on a plane suggested a sexually explicit scenario related to his film and pressed him to participate in a way that felt invasive and coercive. “On the plane, someone was like, can you dance for me?” he recounted. “Then she’s like, ‘Oh, you won’t believe what I was [doing] when I watched that film. I won’t say the rest.’ And it’s like, that is not okay. I don’t want to know about your sexual experiences with this story. It is odd.”

The conversations about Babygirl have followed Dickinson into other projects as well. He has stressed that his experience with the film’s erotic energy was intentional and collaborative, guided by Halina Reijn’s approach to storytelling. He stressed that the work was not intended to be reductive or purely sensational, even if some audience members interpreted it in a narrower way. “People could say, ‘Oh, well, you did a film that you knew was going to be somewhat erotic,’ and it’s like yeah, but the film that we made and the approach that Halina spoke about, for me, it was something way more unique. It wasn’t a reductive thing in my mind. 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.”

The remarks come as Dickinson continues to broaden his range beyond Babygirl. He has spoken in recent interviews about the challenge of being cast as a heartthrob and how it intersects with his personal sense of self. In an interview with The Independent earlier this year, he described being typecast as an object of desire as “strange,” noting that insecurities from his childhood linger. He described growing up as a “really chubby boy” and said that the insecurity did not disappear as he grew older. “I didn’t shed that until I was in my late teens. 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 explained. He added that he’s comfortable leaning into that attention for the right project, but it is not something he is comfortable with on a daily basis.

The actor is currently in a long-term relationship with British musician Rose Gray, which he has described as supportive as he navigates the demands of public scrutiny and a rapidly evolving career. Dickinson’s next high-profile project, a Beatles series directed by Sam Mendes, has drawn anticipation from fans and industry observers who are watching to see how he handles a broader, more globally recognizable role after Babygirl. The actor has indicated that he intends to maintain a careful balance between his artistry and his personal boundaries, seeking roles that respect both the integrity of the story and his own comfort with public scrutiny.

As Dickinson continues to expand his portfolio, his reflections on boundaries and the responsibility of public life underscore a broader conversation within the culture and entertainment landscape about how male stars are perceived, how fans engage with performers, and how industry decision-makers can better protect artists from inappropriate behavior—whether on a plane, at a press event, or in the broader culture of online discourse. Dickinson’s candor also highlights the continuing tension between a performer’s desire to inhabit complex, challenging roles and the realities of being in the public eye, where fans’ responses can complicate the emotional experience of making art.