Jake Gyllenhaal Breaks His Silence on Taylor Swift's ‘All Too Well’ and Its Impact on Him
Esquire got Jake Gyllennhaal to talk for the first time about how the extended version of Taylor Swift's “All Too Well,” along with the release of her album Red's re-recording with its songs seemingly about him and their three-month 2010 romance, have impacted him given his trending on social media. Gyllenhaal turned off his Instagram comments when the album came out. He spoke to Esquire tactfully about his experience. When asked if he has listened to the album, he said, “No.”
Of the social media attention he garnered, “It has nothing to do with me. It’s about her relationship with her fans,” he started. “It is her expression. Artists tap into personal experiences for inspiration, and I don’t begrudge anyone that.”
Gyllenhaal said that it hasn't been hard on him since the album came out. When pressed about turning off his Instagram comments, he said more generally, “At some point, I think it’s important when supporters get unruly that we feel a responsibility to have them be civil and not allow for cyberbullying in one’s name. That begs for a deeper philosophical question. Not about any individual, per se, but a conversation that allows us to examine how we can—or should, even—take responsibility for what we put into the world, our contributions into the world. How do we provoke a conversation? We see that in politics. There’s anger and divisiveness, and it’s literally life-threatening in the extreme.”
He added that he is not suggesting his life has been threatened by this. “My question is: Is this our future? Is anger and divisiveness our future? Or can we be empowered and empower others while simultaneously putting empathy and civility into the dominant conversation? That’s the discussion we should be having.” Gyllenhaal said he believed empowerment is possible.
This time has put things into perspective for him, he said: “I’m not unaware that there’s interest in my life. My life is wonderful. I have a relationship [with girlfriend Jeanne Cadieu] that is truly wonderful, and I have a family I love so much. And this whole period of time has made me realize that.”
As for whether he'll make his own reactionary art out of this, “I don’t know. I can’t tell you that. Ask me in a month. I don’t start work till the end of January.”
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