Taylor Swift & Joe Alwyn’s Relationship Timeline Details Every Clue That Led to Their Breakup
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From the first moments of their reported romance to their eventual breakup last year, it was clear from the start that Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn’s romance would remain highly private. With the recent release of The Tortured Poets Department, dive into Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn’s relationship timeline below.
The Grammy-winner was first linked to the British actor in May 2017, although it’s rumored that the pair first met at the 2016 Met Gala a year prior. Over six years, the couple largely kept their relationship out of the public eye and went to great lengths to keep their romance under wraps from the media.
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While speaking with Paul McCartney for their Rolling Stone cover, Swift opened up about how scary it was to fall in love with someone who has a “very grounded, normal way of living.” She explained, “I, oftentimes, in my anxieties, can control how I am as a person and how normal I act and rationalize things, but I cannot control if there are 20 photographers outside in the bushes and what they do and if they follow our car and if they interrupt our lives,” she said at the time. “I can’t control if there’s going to be a fake weird headline about us in the news tomorrow.”
The couple ultimately called it quits in April 2023 while Swift was on tour, giving fans a front-row seat to the singer as she publicly went through a breakup. Before the news of their split broke, Swift swapped the love song “Invisible String” for the breakup track “The 1.” A Swiftie also held up a sign asking if she was okay, to which the “Delicate” artist gave the concerned fan a thumbs up.
Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn’s relationship timeline
Now, Swift is happily dating Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce, and the couple have taken a more public approach to their romance. In honor of The Tortured Poets Department, which has tracks like “so long, london,” likely referring to the end of her and Alwyn’s chapter, check out Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn’s full relationship timeline below.
May 2, 2016: Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn (likely) met at the Met Gala
Although it was never confirmed when Swift and Alwyn first met, many have speculated that the pair first crossed paths at the 2016 Met Gala, thanks to the lyrics in Swift’s Reputation track “Dress.” The lyrics read: “Flashback to when you met me / Your buzz cut / And my hair bleached.” Swift had bleached blonde hair, while Alwyn had a buzzcut at the event.
At the time, Swift was still dating Calvin Harris. At the 2016 Met Gala, she also met actor Tom Hiddleston, whom she had a brief fling with that summer after her breakup with the Scottish DJ.
May 16, 2017: Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn are reportedly dating
In May 2017, The Sun reported that 27-year-old Taylor Swift had been secretly dating the 26-year-old British actor for four months. A source said that Swift was renting a house in North London and went to great lengths to ensure the public and media did not notice her visits.
“Taylor has flown in via private jets and her security has made it a military-like mission to prevent her from being seen,” the insider told the tabloid at the time. They also added that “Taylor and Joe are the real deal, this is a very serious relationship.”
June 2017: Joe Alwyn visits Taylor Swift’s family in Nashville
After their romance hit the tabloids, the couple traveled to Nashville to visit Swift’s parents. During the visit, the paparazzi snapped photos of the pair sitting on a balcony. “They arrived in Nashville on Friday and spent the weekend there together,” a source told People at the time. “Joe hasn’t spent very much time with her family before, so it does seem they are getting more serious.”
December 8, 2017: Joe Alwyn supports Taylor Swift at Jingle Ball
Awlyn publicly supported the singer during her December 2017 iHeartRadio Jingle Ball performance in New York City. At the same show, the pair were seen dancing, holding hands, and kissing while Swift’s friend Ed Sheeran was performing.
May 8, 2018: Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn post matching Instagram photos
Swift and Alwyn finally made their relationship “Instagram official” after they shared matching photos of themselves standing next to a giant cactus. Swift’s caption referenced the start of her new Reputation Tour, while Alwyn’s featured a single cactus emoji.
May 8, 2018: Joe Alwyn attends the opening night of the Reputation Tour
Alwyn was spotted by fans in the VIP tent during the opening night of Swift’s Reputation Tour in Glendale, Arizona. Although Alwyn was wearing a baseball cap to keep his identity low-key, Swifties captured videos of her beau smiling while she performed her single “Gorgeous,” which is rumored to be about him.
September 19, 2018: Joe Alwyn explains why he and Taylor Swift keep their relationship private
In September 2018, the actor briefly mentioned his relationship with Swift in an interview with British Vogue. However, he said that he’d rather not discuss it. “I’m aware people want to know about that side of things,” the actor said. “I think we have been successfully very private and that has now sunk in for people … but I really prefer to talk about work.”
In another interview with Total Film, Alwyn provided more detail about why he wanted to keep their romance out of the public eye. “For me, I just don’t feel it’s something I want to offer up to be picked apart by people who don’t know about it, and it’s just not theirs to have,” he said, according to People.
August 2019: Taylor Swift says her relationship with Joe Alwyn “isn’t up for discussion”
Like Alwyn, Swift told The Guardian in August 2019 that keeping her relationship with the British actor under wraps allows her to separate her personal and professional lives. “I’ve learned that if I do, people think it’s up for discussion, and our relationship isn’t up for discussion,” the singer said. “If you and I were having a glass of wine right now, we’d be talking about it — but it’s just that it goes out into the world.”
She continued, “That’s where the boundary is, and that’s where my life has become manageable. I really want to keep it feeling manageable.”
January 2020: Joe Alwyn appears in Taylor Swift’s Miss Americana documentary on Netflix
When Swift released her 2020 Netflix documentary, Miss Americana, Swifties were offered a rare glimpse into their relationship. In the film, the singer spoke about why she fell in love with Alwyn after the Kanye West and Kim Kardashian drama. “I felt alone, I felt really bitter,” she explained. “I felt sort of like a wounded animal lashing out. I figured I had to reset everything. I had to reconstruct an entire belief system for my own personal sanity. I also was falling in love with someone who had a wonderfully normal, balanced life.”
Alwyn and Swift also shared a few sweet moments in Miss Americana. For example, we could see the pair cuddling at one of Swift’s concerts and the artist kissing his hand during a car ride.
November 2020: Taylor Swift confirms Joe Alwyn was “William Bowery”
During the pandemic, Swift released her eighth studio album, Folklore. Swift listed “William Bowery” as a collaborator on the record in an Instagram post, but Swifties quickly realized that no songwriter or producer was registered under that name. Therefore, it was speculated that “William Bowery” was a pen name for her boyfriend.
Swift finally confirmed that Alwyn was William Bowery while speaking about the album in Disney+’s Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions. “There’s been a lot of discussion about William Bowery and his identity, ’cause it’s not a real person,” the singer said in the film. “William Bowery is Joe, as we know.” Alwyn worked on two songs: “betty” and “exile.”
March 14, 2021: Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn win a Grammy Award for Folklore
Taylor Swift took home her third Album of the Year Award at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards on March 14, 2021. The win also marked Alwyn’s first Grammy as a co-writer on the album. Swift mentioned her then-boyfriend in her acceptance speech. “Joe is the first person that I play every single song that I write, and I had the best time writing songs with you in quarantine,” she said.
April 20, 2022: Joe Alwyn addresses Taylor Swift’s engagement rumors
In an interview with WSJ Magazine in April 2022, Alwyn wouldn’t reveal whether he and Swift were engaged. “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 joked. The actor continued, “I mean, the truth is, if the answer was yes, I wouldn’t say, and if the answer was no, I wouldn’t say.”
August 28, 2022: Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn at the MTV Video Music Awards afterparty
The viral footage capturing Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn running into a car following the MTV Video Music Awards afterparty has become an infamous representation of their “private” relationship. The couple attended the afterparty at the Moxy Chelsea Hotel in NYC. Swift was seen holding Awlyn’s hand as they rushed into the vehicle while paparazzi snapped photos.
October 21, 2022: Taylor Swift addresses engagement rumors on Midnights
Swift indirectly addressed her engagement rumors to Alwyn in the opening track of her 2022 album Midnights. “I’m damned if I do give a damn what people say/ the 1950s s— they want from me/ I just wanna stay in that lavender haze,” sings Swift in “Lavender Haze.” “All they keep asking me is if I’m gonna be your bride/ the only kinda girl they see is a one night or a wife.”
Alwyn also collaborated on Midnights with Swift. They co-wrote the song “Sweet Nothing” together under his pen name, William Bowery.
April 8, 2023: Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn break up
Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn called it quits in April 2023 while Swift was on the road for her record-breaking Eras Tour. At the time, People reported that the couple had broken things off a few weeks earlier after six years of dating. A source told the publication that they split because of “differences in their personalities.”
“They’ve had rough patches before and always worked things out, so friends thought they would take some time apart but eventually come back together,” the insider said, adding that they “weren’t the right fit for one another.”
Sources also told the publication that Alwyn struggled with Taylor’s “level of fame and the attention from the public.” They continued, “The differences in their personalities have also become harder to ignore after years together. They’ve grown apart.”
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