Joe Alwyn is next on Hulu Conversations with friends series what Paul Mescal and his legendary channel were in the 2020s normal people: the sexy, muffled and often naked love interest in a Sally Rooney adaptation. But while Alwyn (astutely!) reveals plenty of skin on the show, which premieres May 15, he’s revealed very little about his notable real-life role as Taylor Swift’s boyfriend, as is the habit of the couple.
“If I had a pound every time I think I was told I was engaged, I’d have a lot of pound coins,” Alwyn said. Wall Street Journal magazine amid resurgent rumors that he and Swift, who have been together since 2016, are getting married. Speculation of the secret marriage also circulated during Swift and Alwyn’s relationship due to (mis)readings of her ‘Lover’ lyrics: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, would you please get up? / With every guitar string scar on my hand / I take this magnetic force of a man to be my lover.
Alas, Swift and Alwyn would very much like to be left out of the story of digging into their relationship details. “I mean, the truth is if the answer was yes, I wouldn’t say, and if the answer was no, I wouldn’t say,” Alwyn said. WSJ interviewer Lauren Mechling, before going on to say that what is now considered extremely private behavior was simply living one’s life, free from the vulture’s grip of social media. “We live in a culture where people expect so much to be given. So if you don’t post all the time about what you do, how you spend a day, or how you made breakfast, does that make you a recluse? thought Alwyn. “I would also like to feel a little less guarded sometimes in interviews or in any type of interaction, but that’s just a knee-jerk response to the culture we live in. If you give it to them, it just opens the door.” Alwyn’s comments echo similar statements by Swift in a 2019 interview with The Guardian“I learned that if I [talk about my relationship]people think it’s up for discussion and our relationship is not up for discussion,” she said.
In an age of overzealous PDAs, where tongue-touching has become the red carpet norm — not to mention the standard practices of staged paparazzi walks and the cementing of “official Instagram” status — the engagement of Alwyn and Swift towards privacy is rare, refreshing and, frankly, hot? There’s something incredibly romantic to me about a common oath to cling to what’s sacred in a relationship rather than inviting the world in, as normal, unfamous people constantly do when celebrating their birthdays in line. What a pleasure to be shy. Imagine, in 2022, leaving a little something to the imagination! It energizes Julia Roberts-decamping-to-Taos-with-Danny Moder. Like Roberts, Swift has reached a stage where she doesn’t need to use her romantic relationships for publicity or image building. Confidentiality: it is also a coup de force.