Karamo Brown's New Romance: From Keeping It Private to Holding Hands in LA

Love works fast when you know it’s the real thing—and Karamo Brown isn’t shy about saying he’s found his person. The Queer Eye culture guru opened up on the Tuesday, June 30, episode of the“Reality With The King”podcast hosted by Carlos King, confirming he’s dating a celebrity and making no bones about it. Hiking in LA, running errands, getting cozy near Runyon Canyon—this is a man who’s moved past the guessing games.

Brown, 45, didn’t name-drop his partner during his podcast appearance, but the timing and the details spoke volumes. Recent photos obtained by TMZ captured him and Empire actor Jussie Smollett, 44, in multiple public outings, including a moment where Smollett brushed his hand on Brown’s chin. The pair weren’t hiding anything, which made Brown’s on-air confirmation almost inevitable.“It’s not like we’re hiding it. We go out. We hold hands everywhere,”Brown said on the podcast.

What’s striking about Brown’s openness isn’t just the PDA—it’s the conviction behind it. He’s convinced this is his forever.“I do believe this is going to be my husband. I believe this is going to be my forever person. I feel it every single day,”he gushed. Brown described the relationship as“easy”and filled with“constant laughter”and“constant love.”That’s not tentative language; that’s someone who’s already decided.

The romance comes about a year after Smollett announced his engagement to Jabari Redd in June 2025, which he confirmed with an Instagram post on his birthday. That engagement broke off sometime in May, according to TMZ. Brown’s own recent history included a nearly four-year relationship with photographer Carlos Medel that ended in February 2025. So both men are relatively fresh to the dating scene—which makes their rapid connection feel even more significant to them.

Here’s where Brown gets candid about why they’re still protective of their love story:“We don’t want comments. We are protecting the love we have.”Even as they hold hands in public and spark headlines, they’re deliberately keeping the couple’s inner world shielded from the noise. It’s a modern contradiction—visible but private, public but guarded. Brown explained that once the public gets involved, people want to comment, and neither he nor Smollett is interested in crowdsourcing opinions on their relationship. Fair enough. Some things are too good to invite outside noise into.]