Jonathan’s former partner Gavin Creel has died after a brief battle with cancer at age 48.
Jonathan and Gavin dated in 2009-2010 and Jonathan discussed their relationship in interviews with ‘New Yorker’ and ‘Interview’ a few months ago - excerpts below.
An article about their relationship was in ‘The Craptacular’ in March 2010, including:
So let’s start here: They were together. I can vouch for that, because I saw them together, and if you’re one of the nine gazillion other people who happened to see the two of them in the same room in the last four months or so, you’d know it, too. They were dating and they were in love. And despite their lack of public comment on the matter, they weren’t hiding it from anyone. They dated openly. I am not exactly a theatrical girl-about-town. I don’t work in theater. My friends are not actors. I don’t live in the theater district. But for most of the autumn, Gavin Creel and Jonathan Groff were the loveliest nonsecret in NYC, and that’s to say nothing of the National Equality March, and all the stories and photos that emerged from that weekend.
And they were awesome. It goes without saying that they were nice to look at, and there was something so romantic and charming and meant-to-be about them. (If you could have seen the way they looked at each other…) But it was more than that, too. With Jonathan’s career on the very brink, and Gavin’s activism in brilliant full swing, they were poised to become one of the most high-profile gay couples in this business we call show. You could see it coming. They stood next to each other and it nearly buzzed around their heads; it had the potential to be utterly barrier-shattering and world-changing.
