TAYLOR Swift’s ex Joe Alwyn has broken his silence on their split and said the very public break-up was ‘hard’.
The 33-year-old British actor was in a relationship with the American superstar for six years before they split in April 2023.
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While Taylor has since moved on to a new relationship with NFL player Travis Kelce, Joe has remained tight-lipped on whether he was dating anyone.
In an interview with The Sunday Times Style, Joe opened up about his split from Taylor for the first time.
When asked if he had listened to her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department – which Taylor’s fans believe was inspired by their split – he said: “In thinking on what I was going to say, I would think and hope that anyone and everyone can empathise…
“This isn’t a direct answer to your question, but just thinking about what I want to talk about.
“I would hope that anyone and everyone can empathise and understand the difficulties that come with the end of a long, loving, fully committed relationship of over six and a half years. That is a hard thing to navigate.”
He 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.
“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.”
He concluded that he and Taylor, 34, had “mutually [decided to] keep the more private details of our relationship private.”
Joe said: “It was never something to commodify and I see no reason to change that now.”
Meanwhile, Taylor appeared to take a swipe at ex-boyfriend Calvin Harris during the latest performance on her Eras Tour.
As has become tradition throughout her tour – where she’s celebrating the album’s she’s released to date – Taylor dropped two surprise songs unique to the gig while in Liverpool.
The first was a mash-up of Gold Rush from her album Evermore, and Calvin Harris track This Is What You Came For.
Taylor co-wrote the track while she was dating the DJ – real name Adam Wiles – back in 2016, but it was later given to Rihanna.
Timeline of Taylor and Joe’s Relationship
The couple had six years together, much of which they tried to keep a secret.
Here we take a look at the timeline of their romance:
- May 2016: Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn first meet at the Met Gala.
- October 2016: The pair first start dating but keep it a secret.
- May 2017: The Sun reveals the singer and actor are a couple.
- May 2018: Joe supports Taylor on the opening night of her Reputation Tour,
- August 2019: The singer says her relationship with Joe “isn’t up for discussion”.
- January 2020: Joe appears in Taylor’s Netflix documentary.
- November 2020: The singer confirms that Joe Alwyn was her co-writer on Folklore.
- March 2021: Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn win a Grammy Award for Folklore.
- April 20, 2022: Joe denies the rumours that he and Taylor are engaged.
- April 2023: The couple break up after six years together.
Officially, Taylor isn’t credited on the song, with the singer opting to use the pseudonym Nils Sjöberg instead.
Before singing the song in Liverpool, she told the audience: “Every single time I have an acoustic set, I’m always trying to think of things you might want to hear — maybe things that might be a little bit unexpected.
“Let’s see how we did tonight.”
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