Joe Alwyn is speaking out now for the first time about his split from Taylor Swift.
The Mary Queen of Scots actor shared his thoughts on their 2023 breakup in a rare interview, more than a year after the two ended their long relationship.
“I would hope that anyone and everyone can empathize and understand the difficulties that come with the end of a long, loving, fully committed relationship of over six and a half years,” Alwyn told The Sunday Times in an interview published June 15. “That is a hard thing to navigate.”
Referring to the mass public scrutiny over the breakup, the 33-year-old continued, “What is unusual and abnormal in this situation is that, one week later, it’s suddenly in the public domain and the outside world is able to weigh in.”
“So you have something very real suddenly thrown into a very unreal space: tabloids, social media, press, where it is then dissected, speculated on, pulled out of shape beyond recognition,” he said. “And the truth is, to that last point, there is always going to be a gap between what is known and what is said. I have made my peace with that.”
Meanwhile, Alwyn remains mum about the ins and outs of his actual relationship with Swift. “As everyone knows, we together—both of us, mutually—decided to keep the more private details of our relationship private,” he said. “It was never something to commodify and I see no reason to change that now.”
While the British actor noted that he is “in a really great place in my life, professionally and personally,” he also would not reveal if he and his ex are still in touch or whether he is dating someone new. “I’m sure you can appreciate, given the level of noise and scrunity about my past relationship,” he said, “why I wouldn’t want to just open the door to things like that right now.”
Alwyn made his comments about his breakup from Swift after being asked if he had listened to her new album The Tortured Poets Department, which contains several Easter Eggs related to her love life, past and present.
The name of the album itself is similar to a WhatsApp group chat nicknamed “The Tortured Man Club” that Alwyn used to be involved in with fellow actors Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott (who set it up, as the Fleabag alum told Variety last month).
In addition, many fans and critics believe the album’s track “So Long London,” is an apparent nod to her split from Alwyn. The lyrics to another breakup song, “The Black Dog,” references “some bar” of the same name, which appears to be a pub in London’s Vauxhall neighborhood.
However, as Alwyn stated in his latest interview, “I’ve never been to Vauxhall.”
Read on for more Easter Eggs from The Tortured Poets Department…
“Guilty as Sin?”: In another apparent nod to Matty, Taylor starts “Guilty as Sin?” with the lyrics, “Drowning in the Blue Nile / He sent me downtown lights.” Well, it just so happens that, back in 2022, Matty named The Blue Nile‘s Hats as one of his favorite albums of the 1980s.
“I’m so obsessed with him, but he avoids me like the plague / I cry a lot, but I am so productive, it’s an art,” she sings. “You know you’re good when you can even do it with a broken heart.”
“The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived”: Taylor has a few questions for “the smallest man who ever lived,” who seemingly left their relationship out of nowhere.
“You kicked out the stage lights, but you’re still performing,” she sings. “And in plain sight you hid / But you are what you did.”
Taylor seems to be singing about how she warned the public about one of her enemies—and she feels everyone now knows the person’s true colors.
“So, they killed Cassandra first ’cause she feared the worst,” she sings. “And tried to tell the town / So they filled my cell with snakes, I regret to say / Do you believe me now?”
Joe Alwyn Breaks Silence on Taylor Swift Breakup: “A Hard Thing to Navigate”
“One week later, it’s suddenly in the public domain and the outside world is able to weigh in,” he said.
