Jonathan Bailey reveals his hair was so damaged it broke on set of Bridgerton

‘My hair had died from all the perming and straightening’

(AFP via Getty Images)

Jonathan Bailey has revealed his hair broke from damage on the set of Bridgerton.

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, the 36-year-old actor acknowledged the downside of having to film three projects at once, including his upcoming role as Fiyero in the Wicked adaptation, returning as Lord Antony in Bridgerton season three, and his Emmy-nominated turn in Showtime’s Fellow Travelers series.

“The whole experience has just shown me how amazing producers can be,” he explained. “I think it was 32 days in a row where I didn’t have one day off.”

He continued: “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. And 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,” Bailey added. “There’s nothing quite like the feeling of trying to work out the priorities of whether you have to learn the choreography today, or work on your American accent, or pelt your hair ready for another Bridgerton snog.”

For Bailey, listening to music ultimately helped him transition from character to character amid his crazy schedule.

“I probably wouldn’t rush into doing that again,” he said. “But I would say that I was quite good at rolling all the way through and then at the end, I had a five-day holiday, and my hair had died from all the perming and straightening.”

“I had to perm my hair for Bridgerton and straighten my hair for [Fellow Travelers]. I was like a teenage beauty advert, doing everything to my hair. 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, whisping off, like breaking away. And I looked completely and felt completely insane,” he added.

As for how the costume crew for Wicked navigated his hair situation, he told Naomi Watts in Variety’s Actors on Actors series, explaining how his hair broke off during his holiday.

“Oh, my God! How do you even have any hair left? Did it not fall out?” the Oscar nominee exclaimed.

“I had a big old toupée!” he revealed. “That’s a big spoiler alert, but yeah, it’s a toupée. I’m in the choreography so it’s flapping about!”

Watts was awestruck by the Laurence Olivier Award winner for being able to film in different countries with different sets all while switching between various accents.

“There were moments where [doing all these shows] meshed together in a kooky way,” Bailey recalled. “There’s something to be said for just freefalling, not having enough time, and just going on instincts. But it was progressive. 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.”

The first part of Wicked will be released in theatres on November 27, with Bailey soon joining his co-stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo to promote the film as the release date draws near.