Heartstopper star Joe Locke has found himself at the center of a messy new cheating allegation after reports claimed he secretly dated his co-star Sebastian Croft for nearly three years.
The alleged relationship had already surprised fans after a source claimed Locke ended things over the phone, leaving Croft “heartbroken.”
Now, social media users have gone digging through old photographs, Instagram activity and sightings involving Locke and an adult content creator known online as Nick.
Highlights
- A source claimed Joe Locke and Sebastian Croft secretly dated for nearly three years before Locke ended the relationship over the phone.
- Croft later described the breakup as devastating and said it inspired much of his EP 'The Great Forever.'
- Fans are now accusing Locke of cheating with an adult content creator after resurfaced photos and Instagram activity began circulating online.
“Joe Locke cheated on Sebastian Croft with a content creator btw,” one viral post claimed.
Heartstopper star Joe Locke has been accused of cheating on co-star Sebastian Croft
Locke, 23, rose to international fame playing Charlie Spring in Netflix’s hit LGBTQ+ coming-of-age series, Heartstopper.
The show premiered in 2022 and follows Charlie’s relationship with classmate Nick Nelson, played by Kit Connor.
Croft, meanwhile, portrayed Ben Hope, Charlie’s closeted and emotionally aggressive former love interest.
The 24-year-old actor had already been working professionally for years by then.
He appeared as a young Eddard Stark in Game of Thrones in 2016 and later appeared in Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans before joining Heartstopper.
More recently, Croft has appeared on BBC’s reality show Celebrity Traitors, where his personal life has attracted renewed attention.
A source claimed Locke and Croft secretly dated for almost three years
The relationship was never publicly confirmed by either actor while it was happening.
Fans nevertheless spent years speculating about the pair after seeing them together on and off the Heartstopper set.
Earlier this month, however, a source familiar with the two told The Sun that those suspicions had apparently been correct.
“Bash and Joe never made their relationship public, although Heartstopper fans had guessed they were dating,” the source said.
“In fact they were in a loving relationship for almost three years.”
The source also claimed that the title of Croft’s EP came from something Locke used to tell him during their relationship.
“The Great Forever is something Joe would say to Bash when they were in a relationship.”
Croft himself has spoken about being dumped over the phone while performing in a play in Chichester, although he did not name Locke.
“I was doing a play in Chichester, and I got broken up with over the phone,” he told Rolling Stone UK while discussing the breakup that inspired his music.
“This two-and-a-half-year relationship ended that I thought was gonna last forever, as lots of people’s first love did.”
He said the breakup pushed him toward songwriting almost immediately.
“I was so devastated by it, and immediately the first thing I clung to was, ‘I need to buy a guitar. I need to write.’”
The Sun’s source later identified Locke as the ex and claimed Croft had been deeply affected by the breakup.
“When Joe left him, Bash was heartbroken,” the source said.
“Joe was his first great love.”
Croft later admitted he struggled with the way the relationship ended
The actor has since spoken more directly about the emotional aftermath.
“For a long time, I was angry about the how,” Croft said.
“But the truth is, the thing that hurts is the why, which is the reason.”
He described the most painful part as realizing another person had decided their life would be better without him.
“When they reach the point where ‘I’ve decided my life is more interesting when I don’t have you in it’, that could not hurt more.”
Croft has channeled much of that experience into The Great Forever.
Tracks including “Good Light,” “Tokyo,” “Pretty People” and “Better Than Ever” explore heartbreak, jealousy and the disorienting experience of watching someone move on.
In “Tokyo,” Croft summed up that contradiction particularly bluntly: “F**k you, but I hope you’re alright.”
He has stressed, however, that the EP is not entirely about one individual and described it more broadly as being about who he was during that period of his life.
The story took another turn when fans accused Locke of cheating with an adult creator
Days after details of the alleged three-year romance emerged, fans began circulating screenshots involving an adult content creator going by “Nick.”
The screenshots pointed to several pieces of supposed evidence.
Users highlighted an old Instagram Story from Locke that appeared to show the creator partially in frame, as well as photographs allegedly showing Locke and Nick together.
They also noted that Locke followed the creator’s Instagram account and had interacted with his posts.
“The plot thickens,” was effectively the mood as Heartstopper fans began connecting the new allegation to reports of Croft’s difficult breakup.
One user reacted, “Joe Locke looking like that, ending their 3-year relationship on his behalf via phone call while he cheats with a model too?!”
Locke has not publicly responded to the cheating allegations.
Fans are now fighting over what actually happened between the two actors
As the speculation spread, some users immediately sided with Croft.
Others pushed back, arguing that people were trying to reconstruct a private relationship from fragments of social media activity.
One commenter referenced an entirely different set of old rumors, writing that there had previously been claims Croft was “kind of toxic,” and that members of the Heartstopper crew had supposedly sided with Locke after the breakup.
There is no established evidence confirming those claims either.
Another person urged fans to stop treating speculation as fact.
“It’s no one’s business but theirs,” they wrote.
“Relationships are not for public discussion. We cannot know what happened. Leave them alone.”
Another commenter criticized the way fans were judging the situation based largely on appearances and incomplete information.
“A lot of people don’t even know what the guy went through, but they’re already judging just by what they see,” the person wrote.
“There’s way too much lack of empathy.”
"Unceremoniusly dumped," a fan wrote.
