"There is always going to be a gap between what is known and what is said"
Considering they lived their 6-year relationship largely behind closed doors, it came as no surprise that neither Taylor Swift nor Joe Alwyn have commented publicly on their split.
Swift, of course, has found love again in a (very) public relationship with NFL player Travis Kelce, and documented their break-up on several songs from her latest album 'The Tortured Poets Department', including 'So Long London' - but Alwyn has, thus far, remained schtum.
However, the English actor gave an interview to the Sunday Times yesterday where he addressed the split with Swift for the first time, while promoting his new film 'Kinds of Kindness'.
The journalist asked if he had heard Swift's album, he answered by saying "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. 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 added how he struggled with the fact that the pair's "very real" relationship was thrown into the "very unreal" space of tabloid headlines and social media speculation, where it was "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," he added. "I have made my peace with that."
Alwyn also claimed that he and Swift had mutually agreed to keep their relationship private, whereas many had assumed - particularly given how public Swift has been in her other relationships - that it was Alwyn calling the shots. "It was never something to commodify, and I see no reason to change that now," the actor said. "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."
He stars alongside Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Jesse Plemons and more in the new Yorgos Lanthimos film, where he plays a single father trying to rescue his wife (Stone) from a cult.
Swift's 'Eras' tour hits Dublin at the end of this month for three nights at the Aviva Stadium.