Joe Alwyn Breaks Silence on Taylor Swift Breakup 1 Year After Split: ‘Hard Thing to Navigate’
Joe Alwyn finally broke his silence on his breakup from Taylor Swift, more than one year after news of their split broke.
“In thinking on what I was going to say, I would think and hope that anyone and everyone can empathize,” Joe, 33, told The Sunday Times in an interview published Saturday, June 15, when asked if he has listened to Taylor’s latest album, The Tortured Poets Department. “This isn’t a direct answer to your question, but just thinking about what I want to talk about.”
He continued, “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. That is a hard thing to navigate.”
The “Guilty as Sin?” artist, 34, and the Conversations With Friends actor were first linked after crossing paths at the 2016 Met Gala that May. Taylor was in a relationship with Calvin Harris at the time, but that relationship ended shortly after.
Who Is Your Favorite Collaborator on Taylor Swift’s TTPD?
Throughout their more than six year relationship, the pair managed to keep their relationship extremely private, often hiding away in the U.K. News of their split came as a shock to Swifties after the singer penned such remarkable love songs about her beau.
“The relationship had just run its course. It's why [Joe] hasn't been spotted at any [Eras tour] shows," a source told Entertainment Tonight at the time, adding the split “was not dramatic.”
Amid Taylor’s Tortured Poets Department album – which was released in April – fans seemingly got an inside look at the downfall of their relationship in songs such as “So Long, London”, “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys” and “loml.”
Joe went on to dish to the outlet about the public nature of his split from Taylor, saying, “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 added. "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.”
While the Kinds of Kindness actor insisted that he and Taylor both decided to “keep the more private details of our relationship private,” the Pennsylvania native has not been shy about letting fans into her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce, whom she began dating in July 2023.
As for Joe, he would not disclose whether he has moved on romantically following the split. "I’m sure you can appreciate, given the level of noise and scrutiny about my past relationship, why I wouldn’t want to just open the door to things like that right now," he told The Sunday Times. “I feel fortunate to be in a really great place in my life, professionally and personally.”
