Is Ben Barnes In A Relationship?

Ben Barnes has a face and a name that isn't easily forgotten, especially since his breakout role was Prince Caspian in the "Chronicles of Narnia" movies in the late 2000s. He had the luscious locks and smile to play a knightly prince and become somewhat of a heartthrob for the moment. Years later and he's still capturing fans' hearts, but just in more dastardly roles. But his upbringing has really shaped how he views love in real life, and that might be why he keeps his relationship status so close to his chest.

Barnes grew up in London with parents in the mental health field, so analyzing emotions must have been a big thing in his household. But that's not a bad thing. "My mother is a relationship counselor and I learned a lot about love from her," he told the Belfast Telegraph in 2015 (via Elite Daily). "Love is something that comes out of a mutual trust with your partner. Shared goals, humor, the excitement when your hands touch." With that idea of mutual trust and having such a strong idea of love, it makes sense why his relationship history is so mysterious and unknown. But, here's what we do know about Barnes' romantic past, and why he wants to dive more into romantic movies in the future.

At this point, it's common knowledge that Ben Barnes doesn't widely advertise his personal life. As Hollywood Life reported, Barnes hasn't dated many women in the public eye and has a pretty small list of ex-girlfriends that the public knows about. He reportedly dated "Camelot" actor Tamsin Egerton in 2009. However, Egerton has denied it, telling the Daily Mail that she "tried to set him up" once with a friend, "but he wouldn't bite." And as Elite Daily reported, it wasn't until 2014 that another Barnes girlfriend rumor started, this time with Felicity Jones. Barnes and Jones took pictures together at the 2014 Britannia Awards and were at a Los Angeles airport together a month later; however, nothing else is known about their brief romance, if there was one.

As the Daily Mail reported, Barnes was most recently linked to Julianne Hough. The outlet posted photos of the two out and about together in Los Angeles in April 2020 while everyone was still locked down due to COVID-19. They never commented on whether they were an item or not, so it's never been confirmed. People reported in January 2021 that the two were just friends and nothing else is really known about how they ended, if they even had a beginning.

It's hard to say if Ben Barnes is currently in a relationship, or if he's even ever publicly been in one. But that doesn't change the fact that he wants to be in more romantic situations, at least on-screen. In an interview with Polygon in March, Barnes was adamant that he wanted to be cast in romantic comedies, especially after playing "manipulative, rageful, venomous... or just kind of douchey characters," like his current role as General Kirigan aka The Darkling in Netflix's "Shadow and Bone."

Even though he keeps asking his agents for rom-coms, he does find broken characters interesting, too. "Who you are as a person will always seep through in the tiniest ways," he said, noting that he likes to dig into why they are the way they are. 

In addition to being an actor, Barnes also is a musician. He released an EP, "Songs For You," in 2021 and told 1883 Magazine that through writing and the pandemic, he's found it easier to express himself. His debut single, "11:11," has themes of love and sadness — that we "very rarely experience one emotion" — which Barnes said runs through his whole album. "In a moment we can experience one emotion very purely, definitively, and singularly, but actually, most of life is lived in the grey areas," he said, noting the fact that he was very obviously "raised by a therapist." He concluded, "Being comfortable in those grey areas is really important."