How Charlie Hunnam’s Longtime Love Morgana McNelis Reacted to Him Declaring He Is ‘Indifferent’ to Marriage
Charlie Hunnam’s 16-year romance with jewelry designer Morgana McNelis has been a bit unconventional. But the couple couldn’t be happier. The Sons of Anarchy alum rarely talks about his longtime love in interviews. But when she is brought up in conversation, he usually has nothing but fantastic things to say.
The only exception was when he was on a 2020 press tour for the film The Gentleman. Hunnam told Andy Cohen that he was “indifferent” to marriage, while McNelis was “eager” to tie the knot. How did McNelis react? Well, let’s just say that Hunnam quickly walked that comment back.
Charlie Hunnam will get married because it’s important to his girlfriend
During an appearance on Radio Andy in January 2020 alongside his The Gentlemen co-star Hugh Grant, Hunnam was talking about his long-term relationship with McNelis and the fact that they still weren’t married after being together for more than 14 years (at the time).
Hunnam said he was “sort of indifferent” when it came to the topic of marriage. But then he noted that McNelis didn’t feel the same way, and was “very eager” to tie the knot.
“I’ll do it because it’s important to her but I don’t have any great romantic feelings toward it,” he told Cohen.
When Grant heard Hunnam’s comment, he immediately chimed in with a warning: “I wouldn’t go with that line when you pop the question.”
How did Morgana McNelis react to his indifference?
A few days later, the actor admitted that his comments about being “indifferent” to marriage were “stupid,” and they hurt McNelis’ feelings.
According to People, Hunnam later explained that he made the “indifferent” comment without thinking. He compared the situation to “being with your pals, sometimes not thinking like, you’re not trying to articulate your sincere opinion about something, and then you see it in black and white.”
“I know I gotta say, that really hurt my girlfriend’s feelings and I really regretted saying that,” Hunnam admitted. “I actually didn’t mean it at all, it was, frankly, just stupid s— I said in the heat of the moment.”
Charlie Hunnam already considers himself to be married
Hunnam also pointed out that he is such a romantic that he already considers himself to be married. He says he was trying to articulate that “the official government sanction of it doesn’t mean anything to me but the romance of it means an enormous amount.”
“I really regret saying that. But listen, you spend 12 hours a day for three days doing interviews straight, you’re going to say stupid s**t, especially a guy like me that’s not that smart,” Hunnam said.
The Sons of Anarchy star says that while doing press for The Gentlemen, he did 85 interviews over the course of three days — and that fatigue also affected his answer. He explained that the tone of that specific interview was “a lot of banter” in a superficial way.
“We’re all just bantering. And all of a sudden we’re bantering about one thing and I get asked my opinion about marriage. I just said something that doesn’t really reflect my true thoughts at all,” Hunnam said. “Family is very important to me.”
All seven seasons of Sons of Anarchy are streaming on Hulu. The Gentlemen is now playing on Netflix.
