In 2020, actors and best pals Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart shared a passionate kiss on a Red Carpet that got everyone thinking they’re married. Details about his love life explored. Does he have any kids?
Ian McKellen is a legendary actor who has been in the entertainment (movie) industry for over 6 decades.
Just like many other actors, he owes his success to his late parents who encouraged his early fascination with the theatre.
At a young age, they took him on a family outing to Peter Pan at the Opera House in Manchester when he was three. When he was nine, his main Christmas present was a fold-away wood and bakelite Victorian theatre from Pollocks Toy Theatres, with cardboard scenery and wires to push on the cut-outs of Cinderella and of Laurence Olivier’s reenactment of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”.
Still actively acting, McKellen found mainstream success with his performance as Magneto in X-Men (2000) and its sequels.
His largest mark on the big screen may be as Gandalf in “The Lord of the Rings” film trilogy directed by Peter Jackson, which he reprised in “The Hobbit” trilogy.
Aside from his body of work, McKellen has made headlines for his dating and love life. He came out as gay over 3 decades ago and is still a proud member of the LGBT community. But, who is his current husband and how many children does he have? Read on for more about his personal life.
Who is Ian McKellen married to?
Ian McKellen was born on 25 May 1939 in Burnley, Lancashire, to parents are Margery Lois (née Sutcliffe) and Denis Murray McKellen.
His dad, Dennis, was civil engineer and lay preacher, and was of Protestant Irish and Scottish descent.
He was the the only child of his late parents as he had a sister sibling whose name is Jean McKellen. Jean is five years older than him.
The McKellen family had a strong Christian background but non-orthodox. “My upbringing was of low nonconformist Christians who felt that you led the Christian life in part by behaving in a Christian manner to everybody you met”.
When he was 12, his mother died of breast cancer; his father died when he was 25.
McKellen attended Bolton School (Boys’ Division), of which he is still a supporter, attending regularly to talk to pupils.
After his education, he pursued acting full time. His acting career spans decades since 1958. McKellen’s acting career started at Bolton Little Theatre, of which he is now the patron.
McKellen came out as gay in 1988, and has since championed LGBT social movements worldwide. He was awarded the Freedom of the City of London in October 2014. McKellen is a co-founder of Stonewall, an LGBT rights lobby group in the United Kingdom, named after the Stonewall riots.
After his coming out as gay to his stepmother, Gladys McKellen, who was a Quaker, he said, “Not only was she not fazed, but as a member of a society which declared its indifference to people’s sexuality years back, I think she was just glad for my sake that I wasn’t lying any more”.
He has since been in relationships with a few famous men in the industry.
So, who is Ian McKellen’s husband?
In 2023, MailOnline reported that Ian McKellen’s friendshp with his co-star Oscar Conlon-Morrey is gradually growing into a relationship.
Ian is currently starring in the much-lauded Mother Goose as the lead character whilst Oscar plays his on-stage son, Jack.
For now, neither McKellen nor Conlon-Morrey has confirmed or denied the rumors. However, Oscar Conlon-Morrey is 54 years his junior.
He has never been legally married. He is gay and has been in open romantic relationships with Brian Taylor and movie director, Sean Mathias. However, both marriages ended in divorces.
At age 25, McKellen got in a relationship with his first partner Brian Taylor, a history teacher from Bolton.
Ian and Brian’s love story started in 1964 and despite them not officialy being married, they live together as couple for 8 years, in London, where the actor continued to pursue his career as an actor. The duo split in 1972.
After 6 years of them single, Ian started another relationship with his second partner, movie director Sean Mathias. At age 39, McKellen and Mathias met at the Edinburgh Festival in London.
They stayed together as couple for 10 years but divorced in 1988 due to their busy schedules and Irreconcilable differences.
The two remained friends, with Mathias later directing McKellen in Waiting for Godot at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in 2009. The pair entered into a business partnership with Evgeny Lebedev, purchasing the lease of The Grapes public house in Narrow Street.
Following Mathias, McKellen reportedly spent about a year dating painter Nick Cuthell in 2002.
Photo Credit: EAMONN M. MCCORMACK/GETTY
Are Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen married?
In 2020, fans were convinced that Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen were a married couple. This comes after the actors kissed on red carpet and created as scene as if Ian was proposing to him.
However, the truth is, the longtime actors are nothing but close friends.
In fact, Stewart is already married to Sunny Ozell; their 2013 wedding was officiated by none other than McKellen, per BBC.
They reunited at the London premiere of CBS All Access’ new reboot Star Trek: Picard. Stewart is returning to the role of Captain Picard almost 20 years after Star Trek: Next Generation went off air — and McKellen made sure to get a smooch in to celebrate his close pal.
In a sweet set of photos, McKellen is seen first getting on one knee as if bowing to Stewart or proposing, then stands next to him and brings him in for a cheeky kiss.
The pals have been friends for decades and even starred in the X-Men franchise together, with Stewart playing Professor Charles Xavier and McKellen the occasional villain Magneto.
Does Ian McKellen have any children?
Famed actor Ian McKellen is not known to be a father, hence, he has no kids. Also, there are no reports on the internet that confirm he has a son or a daughter anywhere.
Why does Ian McKellen not have a child? Despite legendary actor McKellen being old and has no generation under him, has doesn’t regret not having kids.
In an interview with Irish Examiner, McKellen talked about how he never saw himself raising a family, partly because of social pressures around being gay.
“I think I’ve always known I wouldn’t have children, because I’m gay,” he said. “That wouldn’t have been true today, would it?”
Still, the 77-year-old performer, who is the last of his name, doesn’t believe he would take advantage of being parent even in these friendlier times.
“I don’t feel I’ve got a responsibility to produce another McKellen,” he said. “Bringing up children is the most dreadfully difficult thing to do, and so few people are good at it.”
He was honest that he might just be “too selfish” to be an effective parent and still finds it “difficult making decisions about my own life”–let alone a child’s.
Of course, he praised parents as “extraordinary” but hopes his life has left “a contribution … of another sort.”