Over the years, fans have watched the extraordinary transformation of Bailee Madison from child star to adult actor. Known for her work as a child actor in “Bridge to Terabithia” and as a teen in Hallmark Channel’s “Good Witch,” she’s matured into a Hollywood multi-hyphenate who’s branched out as a producer, novelist, podcaster, and recording artist. Meanwhile, she’s also remained a sought-after actor in film and television, including her high-profile role in “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin.”

In recent years, Madison has not been on this journey alone. By her side has been boyfriend Blake Richardson, a British singer and songwriter who’s one-third of the U.K. boy band New Hope Club. The twosome has been dating for some time, beginning in 2018 — when they were in their late teens — right through to the present. “From 19 to 23. Happy Happy birthday. 4 years of birthday’s [sic] spent laughing and smiling by your side, and so many more to go,” Madison wrote in a sweet message to her beau in a 2022 Instagram post, celebrating his 23rd birthday. “Thank you for your love and your heart. Wishing you a beautiful year B. I love you xxx.”

As their relationship continues to develop, Madison’s fans may have some questions about the guy who’s become such a big part of her life. For answers, read on to meet Bailee Madison’s longtime boyfriend, Blake Richardson.

Beyond being the longtime boyfriend of film and TV star Bailee Madison, Blake Richardson is famous in his own right as a member of British group New Hope Club. The group’s origins extend back to 2015 when aspiring young singer George Smith met a talent manager who was looking to put together a boy band. Smith cast his net and wound up discovering Richardson. “I found Blake on YouTube, and we was just at each other’s houses, writing,” Smith recalled in an interview with the “Zach Sang Show.” 

The next piece of the puzzle came with Reece Bibby, who’d been part of Stereo Kicks, a boy band formed via music exec-turned-TV star Simon Cowell’s U.K. TV talent competition “The X Factor” (the same show, by the way, that also led to the birth of One Direction). When Stereo Kicks broke up, Bibby was invited to join the emerging group put together by Smith and Richardson, and New Hope Club was born. “The thing for us was to get to know each other really well first, and then the music came along,” Smith explained.

Initially, the songs that the three began to write had a certain theme, one that shouldn’t be unfamiliar to anyone who’s ever listened to music from the boy band genre. “Obviously, we’re young boys, we like girls, we write about girls … and it comes quite easy to us, I think,” explained Richardson in an interview with Front Row Live. 

Blake Richardson’s career with New Hope Club received a massive boost when the group caught the ear of British pop band The Vamps. The band had just launched its own record label, Steady Records, and were eager to sign an act. When the members of The Vamps heard New Hope Club, the guitar-playing boy band proved to be precisely what they were looking for. New Hope Club was signed, and suddenly the trio had themselves a record deal.

Richardson and New Hope Club bandmates Reece Bibby and George Smith celebrated being signed by unveiling a video in which they performed an acoustic cover of The Vamps’ single “Rest Your Love.” They then recorded their first single for Steady Records, another Vamps cover, “Wake Up.” That was followed by the release of their first EP, “Welcome to the Club,” a four-track offering that featured the songs “Fixed,” “Water,” “Friend Of A Friend,” and “Perfume.” The EP was released in the U.S. through Hollywood Records, the Disney-owned label that launched the careers of artists such as the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus.

In order to promote their new discovery, The Vamps took New Hope Club with them on their U.K. tour, giving them the opening-act slot. Events progressed quickly for Richardson, with him and his cohorts on their way to stardom.

Being signed to The Vamps’ label and then accompanying them on tour as an opening act served to propel the career of New Hope Club even further. For Blake Richardson and his bandmates, this led to a bigger fanbase and bigger opportunities. Interviewed (presumably in unison) by United By Pop during this period, the group hinted at what fans could expect to see in the future. “New songs, lots and lots of video content and we will be touring all over world meeting new people, playing shows and seeing places we never imagined we could visit,” they said.

According to Richardson, they were constantly working on new material whenever they had the chance. “We’re always writing, on the bus, and when we’ve got free time,” he told International Business Times. “It’s always coming together.”

In 2017, New Hope Club served as the opening act for former Disney Channel star Sabrina Carpenter on her U.S. tour. After continuing to accompany The Vamps on the road, in April of 2018, the group headlined a group of shows before opening for The Vamps on the band’s 2018 arena tour. The following year saw the release of three new singles, “Know Me Too Well,” “Love Again,” and “Permission.” 

Before Bailee Madison became Blake Richardson’s girlfriend, she was a fan of New Hope Club’s music. Appearing on “The Drew Barrymore Show,” Madison revealed that she began following the group on social media and wound up connecting with Richardson personally. They stayed in touch, communicating online occasionally over the course of a year or so. When the two later stumbled upon each other on a dating app, things really clicked. “I will say, this app reconnected us,” Madison recalled. “I hearted him, and he, like, hearted me back in 10 seconds,” Madison recalled, revealing they got to know each other online for months before finally meeting in person due to their respective schedules. 

It would be easy to assume that a long-distance relationship between two successful young people in their late teens would be doomed from the start. In the case of Madison and Richardson, however, those months of communicating via FaceTime served to bring them closer together, despite the miles between them. “I’m proud of our 19-year-old selves for surviving distance and also trying to navigate and grow in your twenties,” Madison told Teen Vogue in 2024, shortly after they’d celebrated their fifth anniversary as a couple.

Over the years, New Hope Club has hardly been the kind of musical group that’s courted controversy. That changed in 2020 when a comment that Blake Richardson made via tweet years earlier resurfaced. In that tweet, Richardson used a homophobic slur.

When the offending tweet was brought to his attention, Richardson was quick to take responsibility and issue an apology. “I would like to apologize from the bottom of my heart for the tweet ever existing,” he tweeted. “I promise you that this is in no way a reflection of my morals or beliefs.” Richardson continued by pointing out that he was young at the time; while he admitted he wasn’t trying to use that as an excuse, he claimed that he didn’t realize the full implications of using such insulting language. “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned the weight of words, and it breaks my heart and completely devastates me that an uneducated old tweet could be taken as a reflection of my character.”  

Ultimately, New Hope Club fans seemingly accepted his apology and moved on, with that egregious tweet fading and the ensuing controversy fading away after that.

In her interview with Teen Vogue, Bailee Madison revealed that she and boyfriend Blake Richardson had recently moved in together, with their shared home boasting its own recording studio. When she was suddenly left with an abundance of time on her hands during the SAG-AFTRA strike in 2023, she and Richardson decided to head into the studio, where they wrote a song together. 

As Madison explained while interviewed by The Hollywood Reporter, she and Richardson recorded the song purely for fun, a way for her to continue exercising her creativity while she was unable to work. “When the actors’ strike happened … having this void of creativeness, and missing it, wrote this song, and my boyfriend produced it,” she said. It wasn’t until the next morning, when they listened back to what they’d created, that they realized they had a potential hit on their hands. “We went to sleep and woke up and we were like, ‘Let’s see if we still like it, or maybe I just had one too many glasses of white wine,'” Madison told People. “Then I listened to it and we were like, ‘It just felt really honest and it felt truthful.'” 

The result is “Kinda Fun,” a dance-friendly pop single that not only deepened the bond between Madison and Richardson but also provided an entry for Madison to expand into a new area of the entertainment industry.

“Kinda Fun,” the song that Blake Richardson co-wrote with girlfriend Bailee Madison and then produced for her, may have been written and recorded as a lark, but the finished product was good enough to land Madison a record deal; in early 2024, she was signed by Red Van Records, the label founded by musical siblings the Jonas Brothers.

Clearly, having an established singer-songwriter as a collaborator was helpful in propelling Madison toward a musical path she’d dreamed of since she was little. “Proud of this human and proud of this song,” wrote Richardson in a congratulatory Instagram post. “Very grateful to be apart [sic] of your new journey @baileemadison. Didn’t think the first baby we’d make would be a song but a great start I think.”

Clearly, Richardson’s work on the song not only helped her get signed to a major label but also heralded the beginning of further musical collaborations with her boyfriend. “Now it’s so fun because we’re writing together,” she told Teen Vogue. “We get to just wake up and have coffee and sit outside and then go into the studio and write songs, and it’s really special … a bonding experience.”

In 2022, the career of Blake Richardson and New Hope Club made something of a quantum leap when the group announced their first-ever world tour as a headlining act. At the time of the announcement, plans were in place for New Hope Club to launch the tour in Europe with a series of acoustic shows, and then electrify with the backing of a band for the American leg of the tour. 

That tour was crucial for the group, who were forced off the road in 2020 due to the worldwide pandemic. In addition to a return to live performing, 2022 also found the group releasing new music, beginning with two new songs, “Getting Better,” and “Girl Who Does Both.” In the midst of all that touring, the group was also working on their sophomore album, “Getting Better,” which was finally released in 2024.

Meanwhile, Richardson boasted a producer’s credit on “Girl Who Does Both” and revealed that he’d been taking on a larger role in producing the band’s music. “I’ve produced, I’d say, about 85% of the album,” Richardson said in an interview with The Triangle, explaining how he came to step in as producer. “We were literally staying in different houses all around the U.K. when we were writing this, and we didn’t have any outside producers come in and one of us has got to do it,” he explained. “I did a few songs on the last album and I’ve always tried to get better at it.”

Just as Blake Richardson’s influence can be seen in the musical aspirations of girlfriend Bailee Madison, her influence as an actor has seemingly had a similar impact on him. That was apparent in 2021 when Richardson landed his first acting role as rock icon Paul McCartney in the film “Midas Man,” a biopic about Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles. As Richardson told the “HeyUGuys” podcast, he was invited to tape an audition while vacationing in Mexico, so he decided to give it a shot; after jumping through a few more hoops, he was told he had the part. “It’s kind of surreal still,” he admitted. 

“It’s a true thrill for me,” Richardson told V Magazine of launching his acting career by portraying a music icon whom he’s worshipped since childhood. “I have the challenge of portraying one of the most well-respected artists, who happens to be my biggest inspiration,” he added. 

According to Richardson, he didn’t find it all that difficult to get into character as McCartney once he and his co-stars stepped onto a stage to film scenes in which The Beatles perform. “I mean, I look left and I’ve got John Lennon and George Harrison right there,” Richardson said in an interview with BBC Merseyside. “I think It’s like oh, it’s quite hard not to just become the role.”

Now that singer Blake Richardson has tried his hand at acting, a career as a fashion model may not be far off. That’s debatable, but there’s no question that he’s developed a keen interest in fashion. 

That was evident in his 2024 interview with V Magazine, in which he sang the praises of the CELINE fashion house while touring its new Miami store while wearing head-to-toe CELINE — part of his role as the centerpiece in one of the brand’s advertising campaigns. “Oh, I’m fully kitted out right now,” he said, pointing to his white pinstripe suit, accented by a black shirt, that he was wearing. As he explained, his burgeoning interest in fashion had been something of a learning curve. “Obviously, me and my band, we do magazine features and photo shoots so we’ve been around high fashion but never really understood it and been in that world,” he said. 

Working with CELINE, he explained, had opened his eyes to the various possibilities, such as mixing modern pieces with vintage finds. “My journey in fashion has definitely grown, having worked with the brand and going out of my comfort zone a little bit,” he added.

Growing up in Britain, it’s not surprising that Blake Richardson has been a lifelong fan of football and has thrown his support behind Manchester United. “I just went from a very young age, and fell in love,” Richardson said in an interview for the Manchester United website, recalling his early exposure to the team, adding that he “just always loved it [football], it was an escape.”

He’s managed to lure girlfriend Bailee Madison into his interest, and she, too, has become a huge fan of the team. “It was always meant to be,” joked Richardson, referring not to their relationship but to her support of Manchester United. In fact, the interview coincided with a visit to the team’s training facility in New Jersey, where they got to meet the players. Madison, in particular, was awed by the talent displayed by the athletes. “They’re such a definition and show of a great example,” she declared.

The couple’s support of Manchester United was also on display in some photos that Richardson posted on Instagram, in which he and Madison are taking in a game at the team’s stadium, Old Trafford, nicknamed the “Theater of Dreams.” 

It’s no secret that 2024 was a big year for Blake Richardson. Not only did he make his movie debut with “Midas Man” and produce a pop single for his girlfriend, Bailee Madison, but there were also some seismic shifts in the career of his musical group, New Hope Club. Posting on Instagram in late 2023, Richardson and his bandmates informed their social media followers about some big changes in store — including the news that they’d permanently relocated from the U.K. to Los Angeles. 

That shift led them to break away from their management team and team up with a new one. “Together we’ve had to make some very difficult decisions,” they wrote. “Moving into 2024 we are coming with a fresh new team behind us and lots of new music to share. The decision to change things behind the scenes has brought the three of us closer and more determined than ever.” The following September, the band released a new single, “Trouble in Paradise,” New Hope Club’s first new music since the “Getting Better” album. Weeks later, the band released another single, “Swimming with Sharks.” The singles coincided with a series of headlining concert dates during the months of September and October.

Interestingly, “Trouble in Paradise” was inspired by the band’s move to L.A., discovering that the city they’d always viewed as paradise wasn’t necessarily all it was cracked up to be. “While the lyrics are about something that makes you want to scream into your pillow, we wanted to make the sound something completely different, something you can dance to and feel empowered by,” the band said in a joint statement, as reported by Broadway World.