Legendary TV actress Christine Baranski has seemingly gone public in a new relationship with lesbian pop star King Princess, who is nearly 50 years her junior.
The singer, 26, shared images of herself and the Cybill star, 73, posing together while holding hands and standing close to one another at the re-opening night of Mamma Mia! in New York City via her Instagram on August 20 and included “#loveislove” as the caption.
Fans were both thrilled and in disbelief in the comments section of the post. “omg hi Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor xx,” one fan wrote, alluding to the couple’s age gap, while another said, “Hello, Ava Daniels. Hello, Deborah Vance,” a nod to fan desires to see the two Hacks characters get in an age-gap relationship. Other folks wanted more clarity on the realities of the situation. “So are they dating fr or not,” one fan asked, while another added, “I don’t know if this is a joke but I love it either way.”
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 18: King Princess and Christine Baranski pose at the gala re-opening night of “Mamma Mia” on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre on August 18, 2025 in New York City. Bruce Glikas/WireImage
Interestingly enough, the pop starlet’s post was seemingly a response to a tweet that went viral just the other day. “okay but fr, what the heck is going on with king princess and christine baranski??? like im into it obviously but also im dying to know,” one user posted alongside an image of the pair seemingly from Instagram and another from the potential couple’s appearance at the opening night performance of A Picture of Dorian Gray.
The tweet went viral, with over 17,000 likes and nearly 1 million views — and in a way, it was a justified post. Baranski’s relationship with King Princess, whose real name is Mikaela Strauss, is an interesting one, though ultimately not super surprising. The pair currently appear together on season 2 of the Hulu drama series Nine Perfect Strangers, and a little bit of digging confirms that they basically started hanging out publicly as soon as production on season 2 wrapped in June 2024.
In August 2024, they were spotted going to see the hit Broadway play Oh Mary! together, and a month later, they attended MPTF’s 18th Annual Evening Before the Emmys and were photographed alongside Hacks star Hannah Einbinder. In March of this year, they held hands at the opening night performance of APicture of Dorian Gray in New York City, which was definitely a moment that turned heads, but didn’t necessarily spark further speculation — until now.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 10: King Princess and Christine Baranski pose backstage at the hit play “Oh, Mary!” on Broadway at The Lyceum Theatre on August 10, 2024 in New York City. Bruce Glikas/WireImage
The duo were photographed together again alongside their Nine Perfect Strangers castmates for the season 2 premiere in Los Angeles in May. Finally, just days ago, Baranski and Strauss were photographed holding hands in Midtown Manhattan — the same photos the singer recently shared to her Instagram.
Ultimately, the jury is still out on whether or not the costars are actually dating or if Strauss — who is known for her silly posts on social media — is just playing into the viral rumor. But one thing is for sure: we’re into it if they’re into it.
This story was originally reported by Parade on Aug 21, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Apollonia-Prince-Purple-Rain-082125-1-3575fd188be246079ffd021b0d4f05a1.jpg "‘Purple Rain’ star Apollonia sues Prince’s estate")