Celebrity Big Brother’s Courtney Act: ‘gay men and straight men can be friends’

Feb 07 2018
Written by Meka Beresford

(Channel 5)

Celebrity Big Brother winner Courtney Act has opened up about her friendship with fellow housemate Andrew Brady.

The unlikely pair sparked a budding bromance in the show and their relationship gripped the hearts of viewers from across the nation as the Australian drag queen and ladies’ man grew close.

(Photo: Instagram /CourtneyAct)

There was rumours that the pair would step across the boundary of friendship, as Brady admitted finding Act, real name Shane Jenek, attractive when they were in drag.

Speaking to Metro, the RuPaul’s Drag Race runner-up explained that while viewers wanted more to come from their friendship, it was “really important to acknowledge that gay and straight men can be friends”.

“I think how me and Andrew convulse that clear message is that there’s a strange love triangle where he thinks Courtney’s hot and I think he’s hot, so it’s not like our attraction was removed from the equation. But we acknowledged that he’s not attracted to male-bodied people.

“I’ve had straight friends, one who I was in love with for years, which wasn’t reciprocated, and that can very easily create a negative psychological impact where you’re reinforcing this idea that you’re unlovable because you’re giving love to somebody and it’s not being returned.

Courtney Act and Andrew Brady embrace on CBB (Photo: Channel 5)

“That can be really unhealthy.”

The star went on to explain that he spent a lot of time in their 20s in those unhealthy relationships but now that they are in their 30s, they are “wiser”.

“I have the tools to understand what Andrew and my relationship is. Also, I’m validated because I don’t think my love for him is requited – we do love each other.”

Brady and Jenek have met up since they were in the house together, and Jenek said that “it was exactly the same”.

(instagram/courtneyact)

“Either of us blinked, we just went straight back into it. We were jabbering away, we went out for dinner, we went to a bar afterwards, he ordered shots of tequila. On a Sunday,” the drag queen quipped.

Jenek added that they are “so proud” of Brady and how he can have a “nuanced conversation” about gender.