Karamo Brown has seemingly confirmed he is dating Jussie Smollett, telling a podcast on Tuesday, 30 June 2026, that he is seeing a celebrity he believes will one day become his husband.
The admission arrived days after the pair were photographed on a relaxed all-day date across Los Angeles.
Together, the pictures and the podcast gave fans a rare one-two of visual proof and verbal confirmation within a single news cycle.
What Karamo Brown said about Jussie Smollett
The Queer Eye star made the comments on the latest episode of the Reality With The King podcast, stopping short of naming names but leaving little doubt, as reported by TMZ.
He spoke openly about a new relationship he was plainly proud of rather than trying to keep under wraps.
“It’s not like we’re hiding it,” Brown said of the romance, confirming he was “dating a celebrity.” He went further still, adding, “I do believe this is going to be my husband,” a striking declaration for a relationship only just stepping into public view.
Paparazzi captured the couple grabbing lunch, running errands and hiking through Runyon Canyon, with Brown’s mother reportedly joining them for part of the day.
The relaxed, family-inclusive outing did much to fuel the speculation that Brown then all but confirmed on the podcast a short while later.
Brown, best known for the emotional culture conversations he leads on the Queer Eye reboot, is no stranger to candour about his own life.
Choosing a podcast to soft-launch the relationship let him control the framing, confirming the romance on his own terms without turning it into a tabloid ambush.
Where Karamo Brown and Jussie Smollett stand now
The romance arrives at a transitional moment for Smollett. It comes just weeks after the actor and his former fiancé, Jabari Redd, ended their nearly three-year engagement, a split Swisher Post covered at the time, which both sides described as amicable and mutual.
Smollett has spent recent years working to move past the 2019 case that saw him accused of staging a hate crime, a conviction later overturned in 2024. A high-profile new relationship places him back in the spotlight, this time on his own terms and for far happier reasons.
The timing raised eyebrows because the paparazzi photos and the podcast episode landed within days of each other, giving fans both the pictures and the words in quick succession.
Social media moved fast, and the pairing became one of the day’s most discussed celebrity stories almost immediately.
Two figures who both understand exactly how the celebrity press works moving from rumour to near-confirmation in a single news cycle is unusual. Their willingness to be seen together in public suggests neither man is especially interested in keeping the relationship quiet.
What happens next
Neither Brown nor Smollett has offered a formal joint statement, and it remains to be seen whether they will make the relationship red-carpet official.
For now, Brown’s podcast admission stands as the clearest signal yet that the pair intend to let the romance play out in the open.
