Gemma Chan has offered a rare insight into her relationship with fellow actor Dominic Cooper.
The couple quietly began dating in 2018, and now live together in London with their rescue cat, Mr Kitty.
Chan, who is the cover star of Harper Bazaar’s September issue, praised Cooper as “incredibly supportive” as she reflected on a rise in racism and violence against Asian communities during the pandemic.
“I think I’m so fortunate to be in a relationship where we can talk about anything,” she told the magazine. “Dom was very understanding and empathetic. I was quite open about how I was feeling during that time, and he was just incredibly supportive.
“I definitely didn’t feel I had to shoulder everything on my own. I’m really, really lucky.”
Chan has used her platform to speak out on hate crimes against Asian people on several occasions.
In February 2021, she shared distressing video footage of a 91-year-old Asian man walking in Oakland, California, who was brutally pushed to the ground by a stranger.
“The community is in pain from these completely unprovoked attacks, but the crimes are too often ignored and underreported. Imagine if this was your father or grandfather?” she wrote at the time.
Appearing on the cover of British Vogue in September last year, Chan said tackling Anti-Asian hate would require all ethnic groups to “stick up for one another”.
“If only black people care about Black Lives Matter, then nothing’s gonna change,” she said.
“And if only Asians are talking about Stop Asian Hate, nothing is going to change. And it’s only when we stick up for one another, and we stand side by side, that things will shift.”
Reflecting on becoming an “accidental activist”, she added: “Actually, we kind of have a duty to, in a way that our parents perhaps weren’t able to as first-generation immigrants.”
The September issue of Harper’s Bazaar UK is on sale from 28 July
