Fresh details have emerged following the shock split of Taylor Swift and her longtime boyfriend, Joe Alwyn.
News broke over the weekend that the couple had called it quits “a few weeks ago” after six years of dating and amid speculation that they had secretly become engaged or even married during that time.
However, according to People magazine, despite discussing marriage “as recently as a few months ago”, Swift, 33, and Alwyn, 32, ultimately split due to the “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,” a source close to the former couple told the outlet, adding that they “weren’t the right fit for one another”.
The singer was first publicly linked to the British actor in early 2017, when it was revealed they had been secretly dating for months.
“They had plenty in common and fell in love in a safe bubble while she was retreating from the world during Reputation,” the insider told People.
“Then the pandemic hit, and they were locked down together and able to continue growing their relationship in this insulated way. But he didn’t really ‘know’ her yet outside of that bubble.”
The source added that despite his own high-profile career, Alwyn struggled with the spotlight that came with having a very famous girlfriend.
“Joe has struggled with Taylor’s level of fame and the attention from the public,” the source said. “The differences in their personalities have also become harder to ignore after years together. They’ve grown apart.”
According to the source, Swift was the one who eventually called time on the relationship.
“Taylor didn’t see them working out in the long run,” the insider said.
“They are friendly. She doesn’t have anything bad to say about Joe. They just grew apart. Taylor is staying very focused on her tour right now.”
Swift started her massive Eras stadium tour last month in the US, and Alwyn has not been seen at any of the seven shows performed so far.
The tour will continue through the US until August, with yet-to-be-announced Australian dates rumoured to be taking place early in 2024.
The latest development follows Entertainment Tonight’s report on Monday that the couple’s split was amicable and “not dramatic”.
“The relationship had just run its course. It’s why [Alwyn] hasn’t been spotted at any shows,”
ET quoted a source as saying.
Swift and Alwyn had maintained extreme privacy around their relationship, but offered fans a little insight in the singer’s 2019 song London Boy – a clear ode to her British partner.
Alwyn was also a key musical contributor on her next album, Folklore, which was released in 2021, and its follow-up, evermore, as well as last year’s Midnights.
“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,” Swift said from the stage when she accepted the 2021 Album of the Year Grammy for folklore.
The couple started to write songs together during Covid lockdowns, with Swift telling Apple Music’s Zane Lowe in 2020: “We write the saddest songs. We just really love sad songs. What can I say?”
Alwyn gave a rare public statement about his relationship with Swift in a 2019 interview, saying the super-private couple try to ignore media interest in them.
“I just don’t pay attention to what I don’t want to pay attention to. I turn everything else down on a dial. 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,” he said.
Last year, it was reported that the pair were secretly engaged, but Alwyn brushed off the rumours at the time.
“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 told WSJ Magazine.
“I mean, the truth is, if the answer was yes, I wouldn’t say, and if the answer was no, I wouldn’t say.”
Fans were offered a rare glimpse at Swift and Alwyn’s relationship in her 2020 Netflix documentary Miss Americana, which showed brief scenes of the couple embracing.
“We decided together we wanted our relationship to be private,” she said in the documentary. “Even though [my public image in 2016] was really horrible, I was happy.
“But I wasn’t happy in the way I was trained to be happy,” she continued. “It was happiness without anyone else’s input. We were just … happy.”
Both Swift or Alwyn are yet to publicly comment on the news of their split.