Taylor Swift’s ex Joe Alwyn makes rare remarks about their relationship two years after split

Taylor Swift’s ex-boyfriend has moved on with his life and career following his 2023 split from the musical superstar, and he hopes her fans, and his, will do the same.

Joe Alwyn, 33, who Swifties say was edited from a new video from the Grammy winner, opened the door a bit about their six-year relationship in an interview with The Guardianwhile promoting his new film, The Brutalist.

He and the Shake It Off singer met sometime in 2016, the same year his first film, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, was released.

When asked if he thought dating the hitmaker would overshadow his career, the actor replied: “I’ve tried to focus on controlling what I can control.”

“From the beginning, I’ve tried to focus on the things that are meaningful to me: friends, family, work of course,” he said.

“So noise out there, I think I’ve done what a lot of people do who are in the public eye, which is try to just ignore it,” he explained, adding, “If you don’t, and if you allow it all these other things in there, and when it starts to affect you and your behavior, you live from the outside in. And then you’re pretty f-ked.’

The couple tried to keep their relationship out of the public eye as much as possible, although Swift’s fans believe that the songs Beautiful from the 2017 album Reputation and London Boy from the 2019 album Lover are tributes to the British actor.

Swifties seemed to start paying attention to Alwyn after it was revealed he had writing credits on the singer’s 2020 album Folklore, which won three Grammys, and its follow-up Evermore, which was written during the Covid-19 lockdown.

The actor, who received a Grammy for his contribution to Evermore, which won Album of the Year, said he was now in a different space.

“I have great family and friends and real things in my life; those are the things that kept me grounded,” he stated, adding, “So I don’t know how else to say it, it’s… just in another room.”

The Kinds of Kindness star said it’s time for fans to do the same.

‘That’s something other people have to do. We’re talking about something that’s been a while in my life. So that’s for other people. That’s what I feel.’

Swift has certainly moved on. The singer and songwriter has been dating NFL star Travis Kelce since sometime in the summer of 2023.

The Brutalist was nominated for seven awards at the 2025 Golden Globes on Sunday, including Best Picture and Drama, and received nine Critics Choice Awards nominations.

The Grammy winner and the actor met sometime in 2016 and were together for more than six years before going their separate ways in 2023 (pictured in New York City in October 2019)

“That’s something other people have to do,” he said of leaving the relationship. “We’re talking about something that happened a while ago in my life. So that’s for other people. That’s what I feel’ (Pictured in London in February 2019

Alwyn is currently starring in The Brutalist with Oscar winner Adrien Brody. The film has received seven Golden Globe nominations and nine Critics Choice Awards nominations

The film opened in limited release on December 20 to be eligible for awards.

Alwyn has two new, but interestingly related films in his queue.

He has completed work on Hamnet, based on Maggie O’Farrell’s best-selling novel, a work of fiction surrounding the death of William Shakespeare’s son at the age of 11.

Alwyn will play the bard’s brother-in-law in the film adaptation directed by Oscar winner Chloe Zhao. He will also take on the role of Laertes in a new rendition of Hamlet, starring Riz Ahmed as the Danish prince.