During his appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, Jamie Dornan revealed that he was in hiding after Fifty Shades of Grey was released. The first installment of the Fifty Shades franchise was criticized harshly, receiving a Razzie nomination for worst director, Sam Taylor-Johnson, and to this day, currently holds a 25% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Dornan was enjoying the success from his role in The Fall until the release of Fifty Shades of Grey; he notes in the interview: “[I was] coming off the back of career-altering reviews for The Fall and BAFTA nominations and all the madness The Fall brought to ridicule.”

He later mentions, “I think I hid…[My family] went down to Sam and Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s place. They weren’t there. They let us have their place in the country, and we sort of hid there for a while and shut ourselves off from the world a bit.”

While Dornan doesn’t regret being a part of the Fifty Shades franchise, he recalls what it was like once he was contractually obligated to continue on with the two sequels: “It made so much money…It was a strange thing because there’s a bit of ridicule here, and I’m now contracted to do two more, knowing that there will be much more damnation to come.”

Talking to The Independent in December, Dornan discussed his contentment with taking a break from high-profile work: “There’s never going to be anything like Fifty Shades again. It felt very much like its own thing, particularly because it focused in and around sex. But there are obviously other jobs that bring insane scrutiny…I’m not saying I’d never do anything super high-profile again…But I’m also really happy with where I’m at right now.”