Heated Rivalry breakout star Hudson Williams has been on the receiving end of messages from closeted athletes since his show became a pop culture sensation.
“It’s definitely the people who reach out, somewhat anonymously, who are like, ‘I’m still a professional player still, and I’m still in the closet,’” Williams, 24, told Andy Cohen on SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live on Wednesday, January 7.
Williams told Cohen, 57, that he’s heard from closeted “hockey players, football players [and] basketball players.”
The athletes often reach out to Heated Rivalry author Rachel Reid, “who will then kind of relay these lovely, anonymous emails,” according to Williams.
“Sometimes they’re just reaching out privately through, like, Instagram, and those ones are the ones that really just kind of hit you and go, ‘Oh, so this is a fun show and it’s celebratory, but also sometimes it’s just hitting people right in the nerves,’” Williams added.
Williams, who plays gay professional hockey player Shane Hollander on the show, also addressed his real-life friendship with costar Connor Storrie, who plays Ilya Rozanov, and the “physical intimacy” that they’ve shown for one another throughout the Heated Rivalry press tour.
“Especially with Connor, who I love dearly, it was something I was always kind of adamant that no matter what people think or want to infer, like, I’m always going to just physically express my love. … I feel like if you’re still biased or jaded or uncomfortable with expressing physical love for people in 2025, you got to f***ing, just, you know, get over yourself,” Williams said.
Williams credited “healthy parents” and “acting class” for his ability to express himself so freely.
Cohen asked Williams about the “discourse” surrounding the show’s sex scenes, which some viewers have found to be quite graphic, particularly the prevalence of the two lead actors’ “beautiful butts.”
“I got a lot of Connor Storrie butt posters in my room,” Williams joked. “But no, like if that were any other — if that were a straight intimate scene — it wouldn’t be talked about in that way.”
While all six episodes of Heated Rivalry’s first season are available to stream on HBO Max, Williams acknowledged that fans have a long wait for season 2, which likely won’t be released until 2027.
“This season adapted two books. What [creator] Jacob Tierney does for season 2, I don’t know,” Williams said. “But this killed him. … What people don’t know is, like, he was [turning in] final cuts of the episodes two days before they screened.”
Williams continued, “Finally I called him recently after the final episode went out and I was like, ‘How are you doing?’ He was like, ‘Good.’ I was like, ‘Why do you sound like a ghoul?’ And he’s like, ‘The show, it’s killed me like a ghoul.’ And I was like, ‘God.’ I was like, ‘I’m going to hang up because this is making me uncomfortable listening to you like this, but, like, go drink some, like, honey tea.’”
