Ian McKellen, 84, ends relationship with 30-year-old boyfriend Oscar

Out gay actor Sir Ian McKellen is back on the market after dating a much younger man.

The 84-year-old Lord of the Rings star has reportedly called it quits on his 30-year-old boyfriend, Oscar Conlon-Morrey, after they started dating back in late 2022.

The pair's budding romance began while they were starring as mother and son in the pantomime production of Mother Goose, The Daily Mail reports.

While there isn't much information about the couple's year-long relationship, Conlon-Morrey did post pictures of the two of them together on his Instagram account, including a selfie where they are posed cheek to cheek and a candid backstage moment where they are sitting next to each other with McKellen's hand on his now-ex boyfriend's knee.

But according to an anonymous source who spoke with the publication, Conlon-Morrey may have been in it for the long haul, while McKellen was likely to make a speedy exit.

"Oscar has been telling friends and family of his big plans with McKellen. He's even said he thinks they'll get engaged," the source told The Daily Mail.

"McKellen hasn't had a boyfriend in 20 years," the source said. "He is really not a marriage man. He doesn't want a man living in his home. He enjoys having someone when he is on tour."

He continued, "McKellen gets infatuated; then as quickly as he is into them, he's fallen out with them. There is no way when he is out of the bubble of doing this panto that he is going to have this guy with him in East London, rattling around."

McKellen first came out publicly as gay in 1988 on BBC Radio when he was in his late 40s after his parents had passed away. "I discovered myself, and everything was better: my relationships with my family, with friends, with strangers. And my work got better as I wasn't hiding any more," he said while on the Jonathan Ross Show in 2021, the Pink News reports.

"Up to that point, my acting had really been about disguise and then, when I could feel I was myself, it became about telling the truth, which was much more interesting."