As ordinary, Joe Alwyn did not need to discuss Taylor Swift in his new interview with The Sunday Times.
“I understand people’s curiosity,” the 33-year-old actor said during his conversation with Nathaniel Goldberg, which was published on June 15. After all, Alwyn dated one of the most famous women in the world for over six years and allegedly inspired multiple songs on her most recent album, The Tortured Poets Department. Still, Alwyn managed to avoid commenting on the breakup for over a year after the news went public in April 2023.
Alwyn finally broke his silence when asked if he’s listened to Tortured Poets, which was released a full year after their split. “This isn’t a direct answer to your question,” he prefaced earlier than gathering his ideas. “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. 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.”
He continued, “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.”
One factor which will match into that “gap” is the reality behind the Tortured Poets monitor “The Black Dog.” Taylor Swift laments a painful breakup within the track’s lyrics, singing, “And so I watch as you walk into some bar called The Black Dog and pierce new holes in my heart.” As it turns out, The Black Dog is the name of a real-life London pub, and the bar’s staff didn’t miss the opportunity to capitalize on the moment.
“I don’t want to give too much away [but] we do have a certain blonde regular who frequents,” the social media supervisor told Sky News in April, implying that Alwyn was very aware of their institution. His interview with The Sunday Instances, nonetheless, suggests the alternative.
“I’ve never been to Vauxhall,” Alwyn mentioned of the world in London the place The Black Canine is positioned after Goldberg joked that it seemingly would not make the actor’s checklist of pub suggestions. Goldberg famous that he mentioned this with a smile that “hints that there is more to say.”
Whereas Alwyn did not instantly deny inspiring the track and it is attainable Swift selected a random pub identify, this reply does poke some holes within the widespread principle—and that is all we’ll get out of the famously guarded actor for now.
“As everyone knows, we together—both of us, mutually—decided 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 also said in the interview. “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.”