Joe Alwyn wants people to “move on” from past relationship with Taylor Swift

Joe Alwyn has shared his hopes that people will “move on” from his past relationship with Taylor Swift.

The Conversations With Friends actor and the global pop star dated for over six years, before calling it splits in April 2023. Afterwards, Swift briefly dated The 1975 frontman Matty Healy before getting together with her current boyfriend, NFL footballer Travis Kelce.

Now, Alwyn has responded after being asked by The Guardian if he wants to “move on” from being associated with that relationship.

“That’s something for other people to do,” he said. “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.”

He also went on to say that, while he has personally moved on from the connotations, he has accepted that changing other people’s opinions is something out of his reach. “I have tried just to focus on controlling what I can control. 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 added. “If you don’t, and if you let all of that other stuff in, and if it starts to affect you and your behaviour, you’re living from the outside in. And then you’re pretty fucked.

“I have great family and friends and real things in my life; those are the things that kept me tethered to the ground.”

The British actor had just made his debut film appearance in ‘Long Halftime Walk’ when he began dating the singer-songwriter, and the relationship pushed him to new levels of recognition.

As their relationship developed, Alwyn earned songwriting credits on Swift’s albums ‘Midnights’, ‘Evermore’ and ‘Folklore’, and co-wrote ‘Sweet Nothing’ on the singer’s 10th studio effort under the pseudonym William Bowery.

He was credited under the same name for his contributions to Swift’s 2020 surprise LPs; Alwyn co-wrote ‘Exile’ and ‘Betty’ on ‘Folklore’, as well as ‘Champagne Problems’, ‘Coney Island’ and the ‘Evermore’ title track on its follow-up.

In 2022, Alwyn recalled how he was “messing around” on the piano and was singing what would become the first verse to ‘Exile’ when Swift asked him to help her finish the song.

Since their separation he has rarely spoken about the relationship, although last summer he did address the high-profile break-up for the first time. 

“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,” he explained.“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.”

Alwyn did not respond when asked if he had listened to Swift’s latest album, ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, on which the singer seemingly delves into her relationships with him and Matty Healy.

As for Taylor Swift, the singer recently wrapped her massive ‘Eras’ World Tour with the final show in Vancouver on December 8, and was confirmed as having the highest-grossing tour of 2024 – beating off competition from Coldplay, Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, Madonna and more.

She then attended an ‘Eras’ tour-themed party thrown for her by her boyfriend and NFL star Travis Kelce, and was reported as having donated $250,000 (£200,000) to a children’s poverty charity in Kansas City, Missouri.