Michaela Coel Is Looking For Her “Life Companion”

Acclaimed actor and screenwriter Michaela Coel is best known for her award-winning performances in I May Destroy You, Chewing Gum, Black Earth Rising, and Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, among other projects. With her continued success, interest in the 2023 Met Gala Co-Chair’s love life has naturally increased. But as open as she is with some of her experiences through her art, Coel keeps her dating life very quiet, leaving many fans wondering: who is Michaela Coel dating?

In October 2022, Coel indicated that she was single in an interview with British Vogue by describing what she was looking for in a partner, joking that they would be required to kill bugs at her house. “I do want a life companion,” she said. “I love romance, and I love when romance turns into something deeper, a relationship where there’s understanding, transparency, forgiveness, openness. But you have to find that person, and I personally haven’t seen many healthy men. So I don’t know if I trust myself.” Coel went on to say that she has noticed her relationships getting “healthier and healthier” as a result of working on herself in therapy.

However, back in 2018, The Guardian reported that Coel had a boyfriend, but she declined to name him to protect his privacy and her own. “I used to be really loose with the amount of information I put out on social media,” she said. “As my career has stabilized, I feel like I need to retreat more.” She’s even deleted her Instagram account and only sparingly uses Twitter. “My energy doesn’t go to social media anymore,” she told W in 2020.

In 2018, rumors emerged that Coel was dating her Chewing Gum co-star Kadiff Kirwan. However, Kirwan is gay, and the two have simply remained very good friends since the show ended. These days, Coel only chooses to open up on her own terms, like when she explained to Culture Trip that she identifies as aromantic.

According to GLAAD, the official definition of aromanticism is “someone who does not experience romantic attraction to anyone.” As Coel explained it for herself, she still looks for love, but typical expressions of romanticism don’t necessarily do it for her. “I googled aromanticism and I very much felt like, ‘Oh, that’s me.’ Which means if you tell me to dress up nicely because we’re going to go to a dinner with candles, it’s not going to mean a lot to me,” she said. “It’s a waste of money and I have ingredients at home. Things like weddings and the expense of these things — I would rather settle for the rest of my life with a person.”

Coel went on to explain that she’s attracted to one’s personality, and has grown comfortable with her own company. “I am OK being by myself,” she stated. “I like having intimate relationships but I don’t want to change people or want to be changed by anyone. Diamond rings don’t make me happy. Flowers don’t make me smile. I can’t smell them. I want to know who you are.”