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Madison Bailey is Free to Choose

Madison Bailey

October 8, 2026

The actress reflects on belonging, making music, and the freedom to choose what comes next.

Written by Adora Mehala

“Playing Kiara as a 26-year-old woman – it was like we were outgrowing each other,” Madison Bailey says. “It’s time to say goodbye.”

Her comment brings a warm assertiveness into our virtual room. The actress is in her Los Angeles home speaking with me over Zoom amid a press run for the final season of Outer Banks, the show that cemented her status in young Hollywood. Outspoken, idealistic, and adventurous, Kiara chooses to be in community with those she feels most aligned with, rather than allowing circumstance to determine where she belongs. Given the “duality and complexities” Bailey shares with her character, perhaps that familiarity is part of what has made her portrayal so compelling.

A subtle Southern twang slips out while she speaks about her upbringing in North Carolina. She chuckles while describing her mother’s thick Alabama accent and the contrast with her father’s neutral one, a product of his military lifestyle. “Being one of seven kids, and all of us being adopted, we all have our own very, very distinct identities within the family,” she tells me. “I think I’ve always kind of seen myself as an individual.”

Within this inimitable family structure, Bailey found freedom in a formative duality: the ability to belong fully to a collective that strengthened, rather than subsumed, her individuality. As a girl, she was keen to put on skits for her family, singing, dancing, and bringing emotions to life. “I knew I had a big personality and I knew I always wanted to entertain,” she says.

That inclination soon became professional. At 14, Bailey signed with a modeling agency; a year later, she signed with an acting agency and began training. By November, she had booked her first television role on NBC’s Constantine and began homeschooling to pursue acting full-time.

The same conviction in the freedom to express and define oneself extended beyond family structures or performance. “I came out in North Carolina, but I was never scared to identify. I came out as soon as I knew,” Bailey recalls. Before recognizing her own queer identity, she was already a steadfast advocate. “I was down bad supporting the queer community before I was even in it. I would go toe-to-toe with somebody about queer rights. I should’ve known,” she says with a belly laugh.

*Top and Skirt – Santa Brands, Tights – Wolford, Shoes -Tom Ford*

There is a sense of abundance to this perspective of expression: freedom is not something Bailey reserves for herself, but is made more palpable when shared. “The quicker you identify who you are and say that out loud,” she tells me, “the quicker you can find your people.” Moving to Los Angeles offered another dimension to that freedom. Having already openly identified her queerness in North Carolina, Bailey found in LA “a space where [queer identity] is celebrated, versus being tolerated.” “I think everybody wants to feel celebration,” she says.

Her candid, but compassionate nature carries into her approach to personal style. Increased visibility, she tells me, did not change it. “Ask my family—I would be the one to put on heels to go to the grocery store,” she says. “If I’m photographed in public … I’m cool to be seen in whatever I’m wearing. I stand behind it.”

That same ease with being seen on her own terms extends to the shape of her creative life. With Outer Banks ending, the music career Bailey formally began with her 2024 debut single The Grey has more room to expand alongside acting and producing ambitions. Rather than divergent paths, they appear as branches of the same creative instinct: storytelling. “Before I saw [acting and singing] as more of a performance, and now I see [them] more as a connection to real emotion,” she says. “I’m putting [music] more at the forefront creatively, but I’m absolutely still acting. I hope it’s never one or the other.”

If Bailey has grown increasingly certain of who she is, there is something fitting about meeting her when so much else remains unwritten. At 27, she stands between the conclusion of a career-defining chapter and the possibilities of whatever she chooses to build next. “I’m not done. I’m still creating,” Bailey affirms. “I’ve lived a lot of lives, and obviously the idea of telling my own stories through characters is really exciting. I would love to tell an adoption story, even if it’s not mine.”