Taylor Swift Splits From Boyfriend of 6 Years

With Taylor Swift touring again, gossip sites have taken note of a conspicuous absence: her boyfriend of six years, British actor Joe Alwyn, has been nowhere in sight. Now Entertainment Tonight reports that the two have split amicably, and People confirms. The 33-year-old Swift and the 32-year-old Boy Erased actor had kept their relationship relatively low profile given their celebrity status—a feat that only fed the rumor mill over the years.

“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,” Alywn told the Wall Street Journal last year. "I mean, the truth is, if the answer was yes, I wouldn’t say, and if the answer was no, I wouldn’t say.” Still, news of the split comes as something of a surprise. ET notes that Swift herself confirmed last fall that her song "Lavender Haze," a reference to being in love, was inspired by her relationship with Alwyn. She also publicly thanked him at the 2021 Grammys: "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 at the time, per People. (More Taylor Swift stories.)