Karamo Brown Seemingly Confirms Jussie Smollett Romance

Karamo Brown Seemingly Confirms Jussie Smollett Romance

Karamo Brown has his sights set on a new man.

The Queer Eye star seemingly confirmed his relationship with Jussie Smollett, saying that he is “dating a celebrity.”

“It’s not like we’re hiding it,” Brown said on the June 30 episode the Reality With The King podcast, which was released shortly after cozy-looking photos of the 45-year-old and Smollett, 44, hiking in Los Angeles were published by TMZ. “We go out. We hold hands everywhere.”

Though Brown did not identify his partner by name, he’s “100 percent” sure he’s found the one.

“I’ve met my equal,” the Karamo alum raved. “It is powerful when you meet someone who you feel 100 percent safe with, you feel 100 percent secure with, who you can just trust with your heart because you know they are a great human being.”

That’s also why Brown, who previously dated photographer Carlos Medel for nearly four years before their 2025 breakup, is “protecting the love we have” 

“I do believe this is going to be my husband,” he shared. “I believe this is going to be my forever person. I feel it every single day.”

The dating rumors come nearly two years after Smollett’s 2021 conviction for disorderly conduct over an alleged fake hate crime was overturned, with the Illinois Supreme Court ruling that the actor should not have been charged after he entered a non-prosecution agreement with prosecutors.

Still, the legal ordeal has taken a toll on the Empire alum and his relationship with others. As Smollett—who was engaged to Jabari Redd last year—told Variety in August, “I’m still insecure when I meet people for the first time.”

“I don’t know if they are coming into the room thinking that I’m this trash person who did something that I didn’t do, or if they are thinking that I am this good person who got a raw deal,” he continued. “Or if they’re not thinking anything and they’re just coming in.”

Smollett added, “I would rather the latter.”