Joe Alwyn breaks silence on breakup with Taylor Swift: ‘Hard to navigate’

Joe Alwyn and Taylor Swift. Images: Instagram/@joe.alwyn, @taylorswift

More than a year after his split from longtime girlfriend Taylor Swift, Joe Alwyn opened up for the first time about their breakup, admitting that it was a “hard thing to navigate,” as they were together for six and a half years.

Speaking in an interview with Sunday Times Style Magazine, Alwyn hoped the public would “empathize and understand” the hardships of ending a long-running relationship with Swift.

“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,” he said. “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.”

Despite the speculations hounding their split, Alwyn said he “made [his] peace” about the gap “between what is known and what is said” about his romance with Swift. The actor also shared that keeping details of their relationship until its end was a mutual decision between the two of them.

“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 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. I have made my peace with that,” he continued.

The actor also declined to give more details about how he and Swift ended things between them, citing the “noise and scrutiny” that hounded them.

“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 said. “I feel fortunate to be in a really great place in my life, professionally and personally.”

Swift and Alwyn got together in 2016. Their lowkey relationship came to an end in April 2023. Both of them have yet to directly address their split, but US media reported there was no bad blood between them.

Using the pseudonym William Bowery, Alwyn was previously Swift’s collaborator in several songs such as “Betty,” “Champagne Problems,” “Evermore” and “Coney Island,” to name a few.

Swift is currently in a relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Meanwhile, Alwyn is reportedly “dating and happy,” but not much is known about his current romance as of this writing.