As Charlie Hunnam’s new Netflix show, Monster: The Ed Gein Story, dominates the Netflix chart, what about his life off-screen?
The 45-year-old actor is the next star of Ryan Murphy’s controversial Monster anthology, telling the story of America’s most notorious murderers one season at a time.
After bringing the infamous tale of the Menendez brothers back into the public psyche in 2024, in the new season, Hunnam portrays Ed Gein, who is believed to be the inspiration behind several classic horror villains.
Known as the ‘Butcher of Plainfield’ for exhuming recently buried bodies and creating horrifying keepsakes from his local graveyard in the mid-20th century, he also confessed to two murders and was suspected of seven others.
Discussing his preparation to get into the mindset of such a disturbed individual, he told Metro: ‘My responsibility was to get to know the character as well as I could.
Get personalised updates on all things Netflix
Wake up to find news on your TV shows in your inbox every morning with Metro’s TV Newsletter.
Sign up to our newsletter and then select your show in the link we’ll send you so we can get TV news tailored to you.
‘I just read everything. I read all of the court transcripts, his medical records, every book that’s been written about Ed, so I could have my own understanding of who he was.’
Outside of Monster, the British actor has also made a name for himself as Jackson ‘Jax’ Teller in Sons of Anarchy, and roles in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and Pacific Rim.
As for his private life, the screen star tends to keep his long-term relationship far away from the public spotlight.
Who is Charlie Hunnam’s girlfriend?
Charlie has been in a relationship with his girlfriend, jewellery designer Morgana McNelis, for around 20 years.
Although he doesn’t often speak about their partnership in public, they do regularly attend events together.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight he said: ‘Morgana’s always so generous with me and we made a rule a long time ago when I finish a job – I disappear for a while – she said “when you come back, make sure you’re ready to see me”.
‘I took a week when I finished [Monster] just to decompress,’ he added sharing that he went to Ed Gein’s grave as a ‘fitting way to say goodbye’.
As far as we know, the pair have not married.
When asked about whether he would consider it in 2020 on SiriusXM, he said: ‘I’ll do it because it’s important to her, but I don’t have any great romantic feelings towards it’.
In a separate chat with reporters, he later clarified: ‘I have to say that really hurt my girlfriend’s feelings. I really regretted saying that, cause I actually didn’t mean it at all.’
He added: ‘I’m so romantic! The reality is I sort of consider myself married. I’ve been with my girlfriend for 14 years.
‘I suppose what I was trying to articulate was that the official government sanctioning of it doesn’t mean anything to me; but the romance of it means an enormous amount. I really regret saying that.’
Charlie once shared that his partner once gave him a ‘diamond-encrusted ring’ which he called ‘discreet and beautiful’.
Although in 2017, he did say he had thought about having children, he added to Entertainment Tonight: ‘We are dealing with seemingly insurmountable challenges in society, like looming, inevitable economic collapse, environmental destruction.
‘It’s a question about the responsibility of bringing more children into the world.’
‘When you’re making a decision of that magnitude, you owe it to yourself to think [big picture],’ he added.
As for whether they are in it for the long haul, he once wrote in a Facebook post, per Grazia: ‘[I] hope to spend the next sixty years [with her]. She has been my loyal and supportive partner long before I had any success or money.’
Is Charlie Hunnam married?
The actor had a three-year marriage to Katharine Towne after the pair met at a Dawson’s Creek audition in 1999, aged 18, and had a shotgun wedding in Las Vegas three weeks into dating.
‘I’d known the girl for three weeks and we’d fallen madly in love,’ he recalled to AP in 2017.
‘We thought, “What if we never see each other again? Let’s get married and we’ll have to see each other again even if it’s just to get divorced”.’
Reflecting on the actual wedding itself, he joked: ‘I couldn’t even get a drink! So I didn’t think I was going to actually be able to get married! I thought it was just a lark!
‘But we sort of psyched ourselves into it and then at two o’clock in the morning, we ended up getting married.’
Ultimately, he called the doomed marriage ‘terrible, painful [and] expensive’.
Monster: The Ed Gein Story is streaming on Netflix now.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.