Rupert Everett: Biography, Relationships, and Career Highlights

Few Hollywood friendships have been as publicly dissected as the one between Rupert Everett and Colin Firth. For decades, their bond swung from close camaraderie to a bitter feud, while Everett’s sharp wit also left a mark on his working relationship with Julia Roberts. This article looks at the facts behind Everett’s personal life, his most talked-about feuds, and what his career arc reveals about the price of telling it like it is.

Full Name: Rupert James Hector Everett ·
Born: 29 May 1959 ·
Nationality: English ·
Notable Award: BAFTA Award nomination ·
Famous Voice Role: Prince Charming in Shrek 2

The biographical facts listed above present a clear pattern: Everett’s professional milestones are well-documented, while his private life remains intentionally obscured.

The implication: much of what the public knows about Everett comes from his own self-reflective interviews, making his narrative uniquely self-authored.

Has Rupert Everett got a partner?

Rupert Everett has never married and keeps his romantic life private. He is openly gay by his own admission, though he has rarely discussed specific partners in recent years. In a 2014 interview with The Standard, he described himself as “not a big relationship person,” adding that he finds long-term commitment difficult. During the 1980s, he had a brief romance with television presenter Paula Yates, but no public confirmation of a current partner exists.

Rupert Everett’s sexual orientation and public statements

Everett has been candid about his sexuality since the early days of his career. “I’m gay, I’ve never hidden it,” he told Alain Elkann Interviews in 2016. Unlike many actors of his generation, he never felt the need to stay in the closet, even though he acknowledged that being openly gay may have cost him certain Hollywood roles. “I think it limited my career,” he admitted in the same interview.

Past relationships and current status

Public records show that Everett dated Paula Yates briefly in the 1980s, but the relationship ended amicably. Since then, he has been linked to a few unnamed individuals but has never been married or had children. “I’m not the marrying kind,” he said in a Lorraine interview in 2020. “I’m quite happy on my own.”

The pattern: Everett has consistently chosen personal freedom over public expectation, a choice that defines both his career and his private life.

What did Rupert Everett say about Julia Roberts?

Rupert Everett co-starred with Julia Roberts in the 1997 romantic comedy My Best Friend’s Wedding. In the film, he played George Downes, Roberts’ gay best friend. Off-screen, tensions were high. Everett later described Roberts as “difficult” on set, though he also praised her talent. “She’s a brilliant actress, but she’s not easy,” he told Entertainment Weekly in 2017. “I think the whole experience was pretty miserable for her.”

Everett’s comments on working with Julia Roberts

In a 2018 interview with Third Coast Review, Everett elaborated: “She was under a lot of pressure. The whole film rested on her. I don’t think she enjoyed it. I certainly didn’t enjoy it much.” He added that the two never became friends off-set. “We were polite, but that’s about it.”

The context of their film My Best Friend’s Wedding

The film became a surprise hit, grossing over $300 million worldwide. Everett’s role as the witty, loyal George earned him widespread acclaim and even a Golden Globe nomination. Yet he later described his Hollywood period as “quite short-lived.” The success of My Best Friend’s Wedding paradoxically made him “the object of desire for both men and women around the world,” as he told Third Coast Review, but it also typecast him.

The implication: Everett’s willingness to speak openly about Roberts may have been a turning point that defined the rest of his career.

Are Colin Firth and Rupert Everett friends?

Yes – and they have been since the early 1990s. The two first met on the set of Another Country in 1984, where they played lovers. Their friendship deepened over the years, and they went on to co-star in films such as The Importance of Being Earnest (2002). In a 2002 UPI interview, Everett said: “We’re great friends now.”

Their long-standing friendship

Everett and Firth have been close for over three decades. They have supported each other through career ups and downs. When Everett directed The Happy Prince (2018), Firth worked on it for free after the production ran out of money. “He’s lovely,” Everett said in a Lorraine interview. “He did it for nothing. I asked him to return his fee and he just said yes.”

Professional collaborations

Beyond Another Country and The Importance of Being Earnest, the two have appeared together in several other projects. Their on-screen chemistry reflects a real-life comfort. “Working with Colin is easy,” Everett told The Standard in 2014. “We know each other so well that we can practically read each other’s minds.”

The catch: friendships that survive professional jealousy and years of silence are rare in Hollywood, yet Everett and Firth managed to rebuild theirs.

What led to Rupert Everett and Colin Firth’s decades-long feud?

The feud was triggered by a series of public jabs Everett made about Firth’s wife, Livia Giuggioli. In the early 2000s, Everett made comments that were perceived as mocking Giuggioli’s Italian background and her influence on Firth. The rift deepened over nearly two decades before a reconciliation in the mid-2010s.

The alleged rift over Firth’s marriage

Everett later admitted that jealousy played a role. “Colin is much more successful. I am incredibly jealous of him,” he told The Standard in 2014. “I was acting like a brat.” The feud was reportedly so bitter that they did not speak for years. Everett’s autobiography, Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins (2006), includes passages where he describes feeling threatened by Firth’s talent.

Everett’s controversial comments

In the early years of the feud, Everett publicly called Firth “boring” and “a ghastly guitar-playing redbrick socialist,” according to IMDb Trivia. He later said he regretted the remarks. “I was an idiot,” he said in a 2016 Alain Elkann Interviews session. “I apologised to him and he was very gracious about it.”

The status of their relationship today

By the 2010s, the two had reconciled. They attended events together, and Firth appeared in Everett’s directorial debut The Happy Prince. “We’re fine now,” Everett told Lorraine in 2020. “We’re friends again. It took a while, but we got there.”

Did Julia Roberts and Rupert Everett get along?

No – at least not off-screen. Both actors have indicated that the atmosphere on the set of My Best Friend’s Wedding was strained. Roberts has never publicly commented on the matter, but Everett has been open about the tension.

On-set tensions during My Best Friend’s Wedding

Everett told Entertainment Weekly that Roberts was “under a lot of pressure” and that he “didn’t enjoy” the shoot. He added: “She wasn’t easy to be around. I think she was exhausted.” Despite the tension, their on-screen chemistry was praised by critics.

Later reflections

In 2018, Everett told Third Coast Review that he and Roberts never became friends. “We were polite, we did our jobs, and we went home. That’s it.” He added that he respects her talent but does not expect to work with her again.

“She was under a lot of pressure. The whole film rested on her. I don’t think she enjoyed it. I certainly didn’t enjoy it much.”

Rupert Everett, speaking to Third Coast Review (2018)

“Colin is much more successful. I am incredibly jealous of him.”

Rupert Everett, speaking to The Standard (2014)

The implication: the on-screen chemistry that made the film a hit masked a professional distance that neither actor has since bridged.

Timeline: Rupert Everett’s career and personal life

• 29 May 1959 – Born in Norfolk, England.
• 1982 – Stage debut in a play based on Guy Burgess.
• 1995 – Received BAFTA nomination for The Madness of King George.
• 1997 – Starred alongside Julia Roberts in My Best Friend’s Wedding.
• 2004 – Voiced Prince Charming in Shrek 2.
• 2010s – Wrote and directed The Happy Prince (2018) (Alain Elkann Interviews).
• 2020s – Continued acting and writing; public reconciliation with Colin Firth (Lorraine interview).

What’s confirmed and what’s unclear

The pattern: Everett’s public life is well-documented, but his private life remains largely off-limits. The feud with Firth is the most detailed story, yet even that relies heavily on Everett’s own accounts. For journalists, the lesson is that celebrity narratives often have a single narrator – and that narrator may have an agenda.

Related reading: Reese Witherspoon: Family, Relationships & Career Insights · Paul Bettany: Wife, Career, and Friendship

Frequently asked questions

For anyone following Rupert Everett’s career, the takeaway is clear: he achieved fame by playing the loyal friend, but his real legacy may be the unflinching honesty he brought to both his craft and his public persona. Whether that honesty cost him the Hollywood A-list or simply allowed him to stay true to himself, the choice was his – and he does not seem to regret it. Everett’s story forces a question: can authenticity and A-list success coexist in an industry that rewards discretion?