For six whole years, he was known the world over as ‘Mr. Taylor Swift’.
But during that time, Joe Alwyn appeared to do anything and everything to avoid the limelight – even though he was dating the music industry’s biggest star.
The ‘low-key’ actor – who studied at Bristol University – was only ever seen with Taylor on a handful of occasions during their romance.
Going to great lengths to avoid the paparazzi, Taylor and Joe, who collaborated on her albums Folklore and Evermore, would run out of restaurants to avoid cameras and arrived separately at the two award ceremonies they attended together.
In April 2023, the pair called time on their relationship – and Taylor’s new boyfriend Travis Kelce has had no problem embracing the publicity that comes with dating the singer, attending countless Eras Tour shows around the world and gushing about ‘his lady’ on his podcast.
Despite reportedly struggling with Taylor’s ‘level of fame’ during their relationship, Joe Alwyn has also come out of the shadows too – and given more press interviews, TV appearances and Fashion Week bookings than ever before.
Last month, the actor – who stars as Harry in The Brutalist – gave an interview to The Observer, where he was asked if he feared Taylor would overshadow his career.
Making a rare comment about his ex, the star – who famously inspired Taylor’s 2019 hit London Boy – replied: ‘I have tried just to focus on controlling what I can control.
Pictured: Taylor Swift’s ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn appearing on Seth Meyers’ late night TV YS show last month
Pictured: Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn leave the British Vogue BAFTA after party in London in February 2019
‘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.’
Days later, Joe gave his first ever late-night television interview when he appeared on Seth Meyers’ show – which was met with a gushing reaction from fans.
One commented on the show’s YouTube: ‘He’s so lovely. Intelligent, mature, quiet, well-spoken, kind, has humility, and good-looking. Seems like a lovely person. He’s a great actor – phenomenal in The Brutalist!! I love that he is getting rave reviews!’
Another added: ‘So happy to see Joe in his debut night-time talk show ! I love his understated sense of humour that runs through his answers.’
That same week, the star also appeared at a couple of Fashion Week shows – starting with Giorgio Armani in Milan and Dior in Paris.
In his second glossy magazine interview of the month, Joe – who reportedly struggled with the ‘attention from the public’ his relationship received – told GQ in January: ‘I’ve always loved Dior and I’ve always loved Kim Jones.
‘There’s been a few memorable moments for me in the last few years where I’ve gotten to wear them. I just really love their tailoring.’
After being hesitant to do press during his relationship with Taylor, Joe – who has been brushing shoulders with Alexa Chung, Michelle Dockery and Rege-Jean Page in the wake of his split – gave a surprisingly honest interview to Wonderland magazine last year too.
Pictured: Joe Alwyn – who stars in The Brutalist – attends the Dior menswear show in Paris last month
Pictured: Joe Alwyn and Michelle Dockery attend the JW Anderson show during London Fashion Week in September 2024
Pictured: Alexa Chung and Joe Alwyn attend day ten of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships last July
In November, the star alluding to growing cynical about the acting industry and how he pined after his first role, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk.
In conversation with his Catherine Called Birdy co-star Bella Ramsay, Joe said: ‘I feel like I’ve been slightly chasing that experience ever since.
‘I think there’s the realisation that it won’t be the same again, and I’ve come to terms with that. Your eyes are wide in a way they aren’t after. And as time’s passed and I’ve worked more, there’s—in some ways I wish there weren’t—a business side to the whole thing.
‘I try to ignore that as much as possible, but it creeps up in various ways. I find that difficult because it can impact your experience of a job in a way I had no idea about initially. So, it colours things differently.’
The interview came just four months after Joe Alwyn appeared on the front cover of The Sunday Times’ Style magazine, with the feature titled: ‘London Boy: What Joe Alwyn Did Next.’
Pictured: Joe Alwyn arrives at the Giorgio Armani fashion show during Milan Fashion Week last month
Pictured: The Brutalist actors Adrien Brody and Joe Alwyn attend the launch of the new Aston Martin Vanquish
Pictured: Rege-Jean Page and Joe Alwyn attend the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures 4th Annual Gala in Los Angeles in October 2024
Breaking his silence on the split, Joe described his time with Taylor as ‘long, loving’ and ‘fully committed.’
When asked if he listened to her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, which is rumored to be about their breakup, Alwyn said: ‘In thinking on what I was going to say, I would think and hope that anyone and everyone can empathise…
‘This isn’t a direct answer to your question, but just thinking about what I want to talk about.’
‘I would hope that anyone and everyone can empathise and understand the difficulties that come with the end of a long, loving, fully committed relationship of over six and a half years.
The Conversations with Friends star proceeded to admit that the end of their long-term relationship has been ‘a hard thing to navigate.’
Following the interview, an insider claimed Joe initially wanted to avoid publicly discussing their relationship – but the persistent interest became too much to ignore, especially when he is on the promotional tour for his new film, Kinds of Kindness.
‘He cannot go anywhere without being asked about Taylor,’ they said. ‘He had his people tell everyone in advance that he was not going to answer questions about Taylor, but he knew that is all people wanted to ask him about.
‘It became depressing and emotionally draining. Their romance was private – quite the opposite of her relationship with Travis [Kelce]. It was partly due to covid restrictions, but they also preferred it that way.’
Joe was one of the producers on her hit record Folklore, and notably helped co-write the tracks Betty and Exile. However, the actor was notably credited under the pseudonym of William Bowery.
Pictured: Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn arrive for a meal at Japanese restaurant Zuma in New York in October 2019
Pictured: Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn at the 77th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Los Angeles in January 2020
Pictured: Taylor Swift with new boyfriend Travis Kelce, who has had no problem embracing the publicity that comes with dating the singer
Taylor previously told Apple Music in 2020: ‘Joe and I really love sad songs. We’ve always bonded over music…We write the saddest. We just really love sad songs. What can I say?’
In 2022, Alwyn told Harper’s Bazaar: ‘I completely expect people to ask those questions [about their relationship], if I’m putting work into the world, of course people are going to ask about that.’
But he added definitively: ‘I can understand that those questions would be asked, but I don’t see why these questions should always be answered’.
Swifties became convinced they were planning to get married or had already secretly walked down the aisle, especially after they spent the pandemic together. But Joe was again absolute in his silence.
‘If I had a pound for every time I think I’ve been told I’ve been engaged, then I’d have a lot of pound coins,’ he said.
‘I mean, the truth is, if the answer was yes, I wouldn’t say, and if the answer was no, I wouldn’t say.’
Pictured: Joe Alwyn wears an Artists for Ceasefire pin to the BAFTAs in February 2024 after publicly signing the petition
Pictured: Emma Stone and Joe Alwyn attend the opening night premiere of The Favourite in New York in September 2018
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Taylor's muse! How Taylor Swift's 'fiancé' Joe Alwyn went from low-key Bristol student to A-Lister starring in steamy Conversations with Friends adaption (and he's even co-written her new album)
Following his high-profile split, Joe Alwyn has also been more outspoken on politics – notably signing an Artists for Ceasefire petition and wearing their pin on the BAFTA red carpet last February.
Although Taylor has previously weighed in on politics and notably endorsed Kamala Harris in the last presidential election, the pop star – who boasts 282m Instagram followers – stayed mute during the war between Israel and Hamas, despite mounting pressure from fans.
In addition, the actor signed a letter to Keir Starmer ahead of the General Election calling him to stop arming Israel.
Before their break-up, Joe appeared in Taylor’s 2020 Miss Americana Netflix documentary and was seen cheering her on from the side of one of her tour shows.
After finishing her Reputation show, the star rushed off stage to hug her other half.
Elsewhere in the documentary, Taylor explained why she wanted to take a different approach with their relationship – in comparison to her high-profile relationships with Harry Styles, Tom Hiddleston and Joe Jonas.
She said: ‘I was falling in love with someone who had a really wonderfully normal, balanced, grounded life and we decided together that we wanted our relationship to be private.’
However, that doesn’t stand in the way of Taylor making plain reference to the leading man in her life in her music.
In her 2019 album Lover, the star penned the pop single London Boy – acknowledging that the ‘rumours are true’ and that she ‘loves the English’.
After 2020, Joe co-wrote six songs with Taylor – including Betty, Exile, Champagne Problems and Coney Island.
The pair penned the album’s most personal song Sweet Nothing together – which pained a heartwarming picture of their former life together.
Opening about the pressure she feels as an artist, Taylor wrote: ‘And the voices that implore, “You should be doing more”. To you, I can admit that I’m just too soft for all of it.’