Everything Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn have publicly said about each other

News of Swift and Alwyn's relationship broke in early 2017. The couple went over a year without discussing each other in public — until September 2018, when British Vogue asked Alwyn about his secretive romance.

"I'm aware people want to know about that side of things," he said. "I think we have been successfully very private, and that has now sunk in for people."

He declined to comment on the media's portrayal of him as "Taylor bae," but did confirm they'd been living together on-and-off for a while.

He added: "But I really prefer to talk about work."

"I understand people's curiosity in the world we live in, about people's private lives. Well, I don't understand it, but I know it exists," Alwyn said in a September 2018 interview with Total Film, as reported by People.

"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 continued.

One month later, Alwyn answered exactly one question about his girlfriend at the UK red-carpet premiere for "The Favourite."

Asked for his thoughts on Swift's recent political Instagram, in which she endorsed two Democratic candidates running for office in Tennessee, Alwyn briefly praised the singer.

"I think it's great, I think it's important," he said, just before backing away and moving to the next reporter.

For an in-depth interview with GQ, published in November 2018, Alwyn was asked several questions about Swift and demurred on each one.

Did he intentionally pay tribute to Swift when he shared a photo of himself standing next to a cactus, nearly identical to one she had posted the previous day?

"No. I didn't even think of that until I was in New York and someone else mentioned it," he replied, adding, "It wasn't purposeful at all!"

Does he still live in North London, in or near Swift's newly rented house?

"I mean, obviously I'm not going to say exactly where, but yeah," he said.

Finally, does he have a favorite Taylor Swift song?

"I'm just not even going to go into that side of the world," he said.

In a December 2018 interview with Esquire, Alwyn politely shut down a line of questioning about Swift.

"I didn't seek out advice on that. Because I know what I feel about it. I think there's a very clear line as to what somebody should share, or feel like they have to share, and what they don't want to and shouldn't have to," he said.

In a December 2018 interview with The Sunday Times, the actor was asked if being the subject of his girlfriend's songs bothered him.

"No, not at all. No. It's flattering," he replied.

He also denied reports that Swift owns a private jet to visit him whenever she wants, saying he doesn't pay any mind to media speculation about their relationship.

"I just don't pay attention to what I don't want to pay attention to. I turn everything else down on a dial," he said. "I don't have any interest in tabloids. I know what I want to do, and that's this, and that's what I am doing."

Swift steered clear of discussing her relationship with Alwyn during an August 2019 interview with The Guardian.

"I've learned that if I do, people think it's up for discussion, and our relationship isn't up for discussion," she said.

The singer continued, "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. That's where the boundary is, and that's where my life has become manageable. I really want to keep it feeling manageable."

Alwyn appears briefly in the pop star's Netflix documentary, "Taylor Swift: Miss Americana," when Swift runs backstage to hug him after a concert on her Reputation Stadium Tour.

He also seems to be present in a montage, but only by omission. Short clips show Swift walking through the British countryside and serenading someone with her guitar; Alwyn was presumably the person behind the camera.

"I also was falling in love with someone who had a really wonderfully normal, balanced, grounded life and we decided together that we wanted our relationship to be private," she said in a voiceover.

Although Swift didn't refer to Alwyn by name, she said her partner made her "really happy" during a "really horrible" time in her career.

"I wasn't happy in the way that I'd been trained to be happy. It was happiness without anyone else's input," she said. "It was just, we were happy."

For her November 2020 cover story for Rolling Stone, Swift discussed her private relationship in a conversation with Paul McCartney.

"In knowing him and being in the relationship I am in now, I have definitely made decisions that have made my life feel more like a real life and less like just a storyline to be commented on in tabloids," she told McCartney, declining to refer to Alwyn by name.

Swift added: "Whether that's deciding where to live, who to hang out with, when to not take a picture — the idea of privacy feels so strange to try to explain, but it's really just trying to find bits of normalcy."

She also confirmed that "Peace," the 15th track on her 2020 album "Folklore," is "more rooted in my personal life."

The song includes lyrics like, "All these people think love's for show / But I would die for you in secret," and "You know that I'd swing with you for the fences / Sit with you in the trenches / Give you my wild, give you a child."

Swift said the song is about "carving out a human life within a public life," especially with a partner "who has a very grounded, normal way of living."

She added: "I can't control if there's going to be a fake weird headline about us in the news tomorrow."

When McCartney asked if Alwyn sympathizes with Swift's fame, she replied, "Oh, absolutely."

"Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions," which is part-documentary and part-performance film," was released on November 25, 2020.

While discussing "Exile," Swift confirmed that Alwyn is the mysterious William Bowery, who was credited as a cowriter on the track.

"There's been a lot of discussion about William Bowery and his identity 'cause it's not a real person," Swift said. "William Bowery is Joe."

"Joe plays piano beautifully, and he's always just playing and making things up and kind of creating things," she continued. "It was pretty obvious that it should be a duet 'cause he's got such a low voice and it sounded really good sung down there and in that register."

On the album, "Exile" is a duet between Swift and Bon Iver, who's also credited as a cowriter.

According to Swift, Alwyn also cowrote the song "Betty" from a "masculine perspective."

In her historic acceptance speech, Swift thanked Alwyn by name.

"Joe, who 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 onstage.

In "Conversations With Friends," Hulu's adaptation of Sally Rooney's debut novel, Alwyn plays Nick, a married actor who has an affair with a college student.

Alwyn discussed the limited series during a media presentation at the Cable and Television Association for Marketing in February 2022.

When asked to share his personal opinion on open relationships, the actor responded by saying that such an arrangement seems "exhausting" but also reasoned, "people can do what they want and makes them happy."

He added: "I'm obviously happy in a monogamous relationship."

During an interview with Elle UK to promote "Conversations With Friends," Alwyn spoke about his decision to keep his relationship with Swift removed from the public sphere.

Alwyn told the magazine that "it's not really" because he wants "to be guarded and private, it's more a response to something else."

"We live in a culture that is so increasingly intrusive," the actor continued. "The more you give — and frankly, even if you don't give it — something will be taken."

In a May 2022 interview with Vulture, Alwyn said he doesn't consider himself a musician, despite cowriting several songs with Swift.

He said he was simply "messing around" on the piano when Swift overheard him singing the first verse of "Exile."

"It was completely off the cuff, an accident," Alwyn said. "She said, 'Can we try and sit down and get to the end together?' And so we did. It was as basic as some people made sourdough."

He also revealed that he wrote the fully-formed chorus of "Betty" after he "probably had a drink and was just stumbling around the house."

"We couldn't decide on a film to watch that night, and she was like, 'Do you want to try and finish writing that song you were singing earlier?' And so we got a guitar and did that," he explained.

Asked to confirm or deny speculation that he and Swift were secretly engaged, Alwyn declined.

"The truth is, if I had a pound coin for every time someone told me I've been engaged or I'm getting engaged, I would have a lot of pound coins," he said. "If the answer was yes, I wouldn't say. If the answer is no, I wouldn't say."

Ahead of its release, Swift shared a video of herself explaining the inspiration behind her "Midnights" single "Lavender Haze."

According to the singer, "Lavender Haze" was a "common phrase" used in the '50s to describe being in love.

"That meant you were in that all-encompassing love glow," she said. "Theoretically, when you're in the lavender haze, you'll do anything to stay there."

"I think a lot of people have to deal with this now, not just 'public figures,' because we live in the era of social media," Swift continued. "If the world finds out that you're in love with somebody, they're going to weigh in on it."

"Like my relationship, for six years we've had to dodge weird rumors, tabloid stuff, and we just ignore it, and so this song is about the act of ignoring that stuff to protect the real stuff," she concluded.