Erin Doherty won't stay silent.
The actress, who played the young Princess Anne in seasons three and four of Netflix's The Crown, opened up about her decision to go public with girlfriend and fellow actress Sophie Melville, saying that the fact that she questioned it was "gutting."
"I won't name names, but when I got The Crown, I felt a lot of pressure to withhold my sexuality," she recently told U.K.'s The Telegraph. "There was a period of time when I was like, 'Do I get to be open about this in order to have a successful career?'"
"I'm really aware of all the people who have lived years and years and years, either in shame or denial, or just hiding," Doherty continued. "Actors, actresses definitely stopping it getting out there in order to have a career, and I just want to be a part of trying to do something about that."
Doherty and Melville first met in 2017 while starring in The Divide, but Doherty didn't confirm the relationship until 2019 when she posted a photograph of the two on social media.
Though Claudia Harrison will take over Doherty's role of Princess Anne for season five, there's no love lost.
"I've never played anyone like her, and I don't think I ever will," she said. "The royals are such a specific concoction of circumstance versus emotion. It's just like, when will you ever get to explore the friction of that?"
And there's plenty more friction to come with season five, set to premiere in November and follow the royal family's turbulent time in the ‘90s. Harrison will be joined by fellow newcomers Imelda Staunton, Dominic West and Elizabeth Debicki, among others.
However, in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II's death, the show paused filming Sept. 9 out of respect for the monarch. Though they resumed, Netflix noted plans to suspend filming once again during the Queen's funeral Sept. 19.
"The Crown is a love letter to her," showrunner Peter Morgan said on Sept. 9. "I've nothing to add for now, just silence and respect."
The Crown is now streaming on Netflix.