Taylor Swift's ex Joe Alwyn ready for 'other people' to move on from their relationship
Taylor Swift’s ex-boyfriend, Joe Alwyn, has moved on from their relationship and feels other people should, too.
The actor spoke with The Guardian about his upcoming film, "The Brutalist," and when asked if he was ready to move on from the relationship and the attention that came with it, he made it clear he has.
"That’s something for other people to do," he told the outlet. "We’re talking about something that’s a while ago now in my life. So that’s for other people. That’s what I feel."
Swift and Alwyn dated for six years, keeping very private during that time.
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The actor was asked if he worried that his relationship would overshadow his career, which includes award-winning films like "The Favourite."
"I have tried just to focus on controlling what I can control," he said, "and, right from the beginning, tried to focus on the things that are meaningful for me: friends, family, work, of course. So noise outside of that, I think I’ve done what lots of people who find themselves in the public eye do, which is just try and ignore it."
He continued, "If you don’t, and if you let all of that other stuff in, and if it starts to affect you and your behavior, you’re living from the outside in. And then you’re pretty f---ed."
Alwyn and Swift collaborated on two of her albums, "Folklore" and "Evermore," both released during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Under the pseudonym William Bowery, he is credited on two songs, "Exile" and "Betty," and as a co-producer under his real name on several more "Folklore" tunes, earning a Grammy alongside Swift in 2021 for album of the year.
"Lockdown was a whole host of surprises, and that was pretty special," he said of the experience. "That was not something I would have foreseen."
Their relationship came to an end in early 2023, near the beginning of the singer’s record-breaking "Eras Tour."
In April 2023, a source confirmed to Entertainment Tonight that Alwyn and Swift had called it quits, saying that "it was not dramatic" and the split was "amicable."
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"The relationship had just run its course," the insider added, explaining that the former couple's separation was the reason that Alwyn had not been spotted attending any of Swift's "Eras Tour" shows.
Alwyn, like many of Swift’s exes, was the subject of intense scrutiny by her fans, who combed through her lyrics, particularly her latest album, "The Tortured Poets Department," for clues about the relationship’s rise and fall.
Earlier this year, the 33-year-old spoke with The Sunday Times Style about the fervent attention from the public.
"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," Alwyn 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."
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"I have made my peace with that," Alwyn added.
He also told the outlet that he and Swift "mutually" made a decision to "keep the more private details of our relationship private."
"It was never something to commodify, and I see no reason to change that now," Alwyn said. "And, look, this is also a little over a year ago now, and I feel fortunate to be in a really great place in my life, professionally and personally. I feel really good."
During that interview, Alwyn refused to answer if he was still in touch with Swift or the status of his dating life.
Swift is currently in a relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, which began in the summer of 2023.