Jonathan Bailey, best known for his role as Lord Anthony Bridgerton in the hit Netflix series Bridgerton, has shared the intense toll his packed filming schedule has taken on him—particularly on his hair. In a candid interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the 36-year-old actor revealed that his hair was so damaged from constant styling that it began breaking off while he was on set.
Bailey has been juggling an exceptionally busy schedule, working on three major projects simultaneously: the upcoming Wicked film adaptation, the third season of Bridgerton, and Showtime’s Fellow Travelers, for which he received an Emmy nomination. The grueling pace of filming left him with little to no downtime, as he recounted, “The whole experience has just shown me how amazing producers can be. I think it was 32 days in a row where I didn’t have one day off.”
The demands of switching between these roles were intense. “I flew back and forth four times. I’d go from [Fellow Travelers character] Hawk’s house in the ‘60s at the cabin, go straight to the airport, sleep on the plane, go straight to a Regency ball, sleep there, then go straight to Wicked to be learning choreography,” Bailey explained. “At that point, I was so late in joining the Wicked lot. They’d already started filming, and that also was incredible for Marc Platt to make that work.”
The constant transitions between characters and sets took a physical toll on Bailey, particularly on his hair. To maintain the distinct looks for each role, his hair underwent repeated perming for Bridgerton and straightening for Fellow Travelers. “I was like a teenage beauty advert, doing everything to my hair,” he recalled. This relentless styling led to significant hair damage. “I remember going on this holiday and I got to the beach, I sat down in the sun, and my hair was just like floating, wispy, breaking away. And I looked completely and felt completely insane.”
Bailey’s admission that his hair began breaking off was met with surprise by fellow actor Naomi Watts during their conversation for Variety’s Actors on Actors series. “Oh, my God! How do you even have any hair left? Did it not fall out?” Watts asked, to which Bailey humorously responded, “I had a big old toupée! That’s a big spoiler alert, but yeah, it’s a toupée. I’m in the choreography so it’s flapping about!”
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Despite the challenges, Bailey found ways to navigate the chaos, often relying on music to help him shift from one character to another. However, he admitted that the experience was far from easy and not something he’s eager to repeat. “I probably wouldn’t rush into doing that again,” he said, acknowledging the exhaustion that comes with such a packed schedule. Yet, he managed to push through, eventually allowing himself a brief respite. “At the end, I had a five-day holiday, and my hair had died from all the perming and straightening.”
The actor also reflected on the surreal nature of his experience, describing how the different roles sometimes meshed together in unexpected ways. “There were moments where [doing all these shows] meshed together in a kooky way,” Bailey said. He recounted a particularly humorous memory: “There are some videos on my phone that I was crying looking at: It’s me as Tim, in a fifties tie and jacket, and then in Nike sweatpants learning the choreography [for Wicked] on the lunch break.”
As Bailey wraps up his intense filming period, fans eagerly await the release of his upcoming projects. The first part of Wicked is set to hit theaters on November 27, with Bailey joining his co-stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo for the film’s promotion as the release date approaches.
