Joe Alwyn Talks Taylor Swift Breakup for First Time: ‘Hard Thing to Navigate’

Over a year after Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn broke up, the British actor talked about the split for the first time in a new interview.

Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter while promoting Kinds of Kindness, the Yorgos Lanthimos  film he co-stars in, Alwyn was asked whether he had listened to The Tortured Poets Department, which features tracks like “So Long, London” that are seemingly inspired by their split. While Alwyn didn’t say if he had heard the LP, he did open up about the breakup.

“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,” Alwyn 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.”

Alwyn, who reportedly long sought to protect the couple’s privacy despite the high-profile nature of their relationship, added, “It was never something to commodify, and I see no reason to change that now. 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 their nearly seven-year relationship, the pair were not only a couple but also musical collaborators: Alwyn cowrote (under the name William Bowery) “Exile” and “Betty” from Folklore, and “Champagne Problems,” “Coney Island,” and “Evermore” on Evermore. Alwyn also co-produced six songs from Folklore, earning him a Grammy when it won Album of the Year.