Who Is Charlie Hunnam’s Girlfriend of 18 Years, and Why Does He Avoid Kissing Other Women, Even on Screen

Charlie Hunnam has been a constant presence on screens in recent years. However, little is known about the actor’s personal life. It turns out he has been in a relationship with his girlfriend for 18 years. Charlie values these relationships so much that he refuses intimate scenes in movies to avoid upsetting his girlfriend. However, at the same time, he refuses to get married.

He was discovered at a shoe store.

Charles Matthew Hunnam was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in Great Britain. At 12, he moved together with his family to the county of Cumbria, where he attended Cumbria College of Art and Design and graduated with a dual degree in film theory and film history. At the time, Charlie didn’t plan to be an actor. He wanted to write screenplays and direct his own movies.

Charlie became an actor by accident. When he was 17, he went together with his friend to buy shoes on Christmas Eve. They were fooling around and running around the store when they were noticed by a production manager for the Newcastle-based teen drama Byker Grove. Charlie winked at her and sent her a kiss. The manager got interested in him and offered him to play Jason on 3 episodes of the show.

He rose to fame thanks to Sons of Anarchy.

After Byker Grove, Hunnam played a schoolboy named Nathan Maloney in the TV drama Queer as Folk and Daz in the film Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?. Also, the aspiring actor appeared in the movies Abandon (2002), Nicholas Nickleby (2002), and Cold Mountain (2003). But none of these roles became his breakthrough.

In 2005, Charlie landed the lead role of Pete Dunham in the movie Green Street Hooligans. Thanks to this project, he was noticed by film director Kurt Sutter who invited him to play in his new show Sons of Anarchy. Charlie played the role of Jackson “Jax” Teller, the leader of a prominent motorcycle club, from 2008 to 2014. This role earned him the love of the audience, recognition from critics, and 3 nominations for the Critics’ Choice Television Award, EWwy Award, and PAAFTJ Award.

He was supposed to play Christian Grey but refused.

While filming Sons of Anarchy, Charlie landed the role of Christian Grey in the screen adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey. He even did a reading with his potential partner Dakota Johnson, but eventually turned the role down. According to the official statement, Hunnam refused because of conflicts with the schedule of his series Sons of Anarchy. But sources close to the actor say that Hunnam observed the way Robert Pattinson’s career developed after playing in The Twilight Saga and decided that he didn’t want the attention that would come along with taking on this role.

He was worried about what his girlfriend would feel if she saw him in bed scenes.

But there is a possibility that his busy schedule and career ambitions were not the only reasons why Charlie turned down the role of Christian Grey. While preparing for the role in Fifty Shades of Grey, he had already been in a relationship with his girlfriend Morgana McNelis for 6 years.

Even though Morgana was a fan of E. L. James’ books and supported her boyfriend, his new work concerned her. Charlie commented on this, “It’s very hard to be with an actor. She’s required to share parts of me that she wouldn’t really want to share, of course. And with the certain nature of this role, it’s going to be times 10.” Perhaps, the actor decided to spare his girlfriend’s feelings.

He is building a successful career and writes screenplays during his free time.

His next career stage is associated with his collaboration with film director Guy Ritchie. First, Charlie played the lead role in the action-adventure movie King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017). And 2 years later, he starred alongside Matthew McConaughey in The Gentlemen.

Now Charlie Hunnam can be seen in the series Shantaram, the screen adaptation of Gregory David Roberts’ novel of the same name. The actor plays the role of Lindsay Ford, a bank robber from Australia who flees the country to India. But even though Hunnam has a very successful career, he doesn’t forget his initial dream. Before getting cast in Sons of Anarchy, Hunnam sold his screenplay Vlad to Summit Entertainment, which focused on the real-life story of Vlad the Impaler — Dracula prototype. Charlie learned about it from the locals in Romania while shooting Cold Mountain.

He hates to kiss on screen because of his phobia of germs.

Charlie Hunnam loves everything about his job, except for bed scenes. He says he’s a germaphobe and has had this phobia since childhood. At school, he learned about a parasite that could make you blind, and since then, hygiene has become one of his priorities. Charlie never said it, but perhaps he felt so much better after turning down the role in Fifty Shades of Grey because most parts of this movie consisted of bed scenes.

His obsession with cleanliness played a cruel joke on him when he came to India to film Shantaram. The actor believes that his excessive hygiene made his immune system too delicate, which led to a series of pretty significant health issues. So, during the shoot, Hunnam got infected with various diseases, which affected his eyes, throat, and digestive system. Luckily, he managed to recover, but it seems that he had to reconsider his approach to hygiene.

He’s been dating his girlfriend for more than 15 years.

Despite her Hollywood connections as a jewelry designer and her well-known boyfriend, McNelis chooses to maintain a low profile when it comes to her personal life. The romance between McNelis and Hunnam remained a secret for over a decade, only becoming public knowledge after years of being together.

Upon the public revelation of their relationship, there were some negative reactions from fans. In response, Hunnam swiftly defended his girlfriend, urging fans on a Facebook page to refrain from online harassment directed at McNelis.

It’s not unexpected that the incredibly private couple favors the tranquility of farm life to the fast-paced Hollywood scene. In 2013, Hunnam and McNelis purchased a ranch in California with aspirations of leading a more sustainable and leisurely lifestyle.

“My girlfriend and I just bought a ranch, so we are getting out of Hollywood completely,” Hunnam told. “It’s in California. We’ve got 30 chickens and a couple of donkeys, a couple of ducks and we’ve got a big, organic garden. We are going to try to live a bit more sustainably.”

He’s skeptical about marriage.

Despite their long relationship, Charlie and Morgana are not married. The actor once revealed that his girlfriend wants to marry him, but he’s not really fond of this idea. He believes they are already married, and he doesn’t need ceremonies to prove it. However, since it’s important for Morgana, he says that he will eventually do it.

Not always an official marriage is necessary for loving hearts. For example, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell haven’t legalized their relationship, but they’ve been living soulfully together for almost 40 years. Take a look at other strong couples as well.