The More You Joe

Joe Alwyn, Taylor Swift's Ex, Is “Focused On Work”

So…same as usual, then?
Joe Alwyn
Getty Images.

As fans continue to parse what the lyrics of Taylor Swift’s latest release, the 31-track double album The Tortured Poets Department, mean, the purported subject of some of those emotional songs is reportedly “doing well.”

We’re not talking about Matty Healy. The world heard from him last week and he seems fine, if maybe a little bewildered. Now, it’s Joe Alwyn’s turn.

An unnamed source told People that Alwyn, with whom Swift was in a relationship for some six years before their breakup became public knowledge just over a year ago in April 2023, is “focused on work” and has “moved on” from Swift.

“He’s dating and happy,” the source said. “He’s a great guy and not into drama in any way.”

Alwyn “certainly doesn’t talk poorly about [Taylor],” the source said. “He was in love with her, and it just didn’t work out.”

It’s not surprising that he doesn’t talk poorly of her, because Alwyn rarely talks publicly at all. “Joe loves acting, but can’t stand the attention that comes with it. He’s not comfortable in the spotlight," the source added.

Indeed, even when the two were dating, the notoriously private Alwyn refused to speak about Swift in interviews, even clamming up when asked where he keeps the Grammy he earned by co-writing songs with her. “I actually don't know where it is,” he said in an interview with Gold Derby. “I think it's on the piano.” In 2018, when GQ asked him to name his favorite Swift track, his response was that he was “just not even going to go into that side of the world.”

Swift has moved on with a new-ish romance with Kansas City Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce, hard launching their relationship with an appearance at one of his games in September 2023. Though an unnamed source told Entertainment Tonight that Alwyn and Swift “are not in touch at this point,” their Venn diagrams do have significant points of overlap: For example, Alwyn’s next role is in director Yorgos Lanthimos’s Kinds of Kindness, which he stars in opposite noted Swift pal Emma Stone. Margaret Qualley, whose New Jersey wedding to frequent Swift collaborator Jack Antonoff Swift attended last summer, is also in the film. Just because Swift has said “So Long, London,” that doesn’t mean the world’s maps have been revised.

Representatives for Alwyn and Swift did not immediately respond to requests for comment.