Taylor Swift has nearly broken all stereotypes. Today, she is the top-selling artist. The Love Story hitmaker is a number-one artist and on top of the world. Being this famous comes with a lot of things. Swift often finds herself in the news for every little thing that goes on in her life. In her earlier years, she was often in the news for her love life and changing relationship status. Even today, Taylor Swift manages to make headlines for her blooming relationship with NFL player Travis Kelce. From attending Chiefs games to having a fun getaway, it all goes viral.

But in 2016, when she started dating ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn, she swore to keep her personal life as private as she could. But here’s a fun fact: Swift never really liked keeping her relationship completely private before she dated Joe Alwyn. In fact, she even admitted this once. In an old video going viral on TikTok, Taylor Swift once revealed she never wanted to hide her relationship.

Taylor Swift once admitted that she didn’t want to hide her relationships

Taylor Swift once admitted that she disliked hiding her love life from the public before spending most of her time with Joe Alwyn away from the spotlight. The Anti-Hero hitmakers clip from a 2012 interview with Alan Carr: The Chatty Man has been going viral on social media, where she is seen confessing that she didn’t really like hiding her love.

When Carr asked her about how difficult it is to keep your private life private, Swift replied, “To me, everything depends on who you’re with. If they have a severe issue with it, you can conceal it or anything, but I don’t like that. Because it makes me feel like I’m fleeing from the law or something. I don’t want to feel like a fugitive, as in, ‘Oh my God, we’re having a relationship! Better put on a mask and stuff!”

Swift then stated that she would rather simply live her life than worry about what others think. She said, “I feel like if you can be in a relationship and have it seem normal, that would be good.” The pop star’s interview happened four years before she started dating Alwyn, in 2016. The couple was together for nearly six years before they decided to part ways. Throughout their relationship, the couple mostly stayed out of the spotlight, dashing to cars to dodge photographers and walking red carpets separately.

Meanwhile, Swift claimed at the time that their extreme secrecy was due to her being scrutinized following her breakup with Calvin Harris and Tom Hiddleston, as well as her feuds with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.

Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn’s relationship timeline

Taylor Swift dated actor Joe Alwyn for nearly six years, and as the relationship first began it was almost immediately evident that the couple had reached an agreement: their relationship would be intimate but private, and they would work together to maintain their privacy. Nonetheless, Swift and Alwyn’s love story did not remain hidden for long. Let’s take a ride through their relationship, which lasted six years.

Nobody knows exactly when Swift and Alwyn first met. According to speculation, Swift and Alwyn first met at the 2016 Met Gala. Just a few months later, the legendary pop singer attended Alwyn’s movie screening. In 2017, a source close to the couple informed The Sun that Swift and Alwyn had been dating for a few months and that their friends and families knew about it. They were photographed by paparazzi several times during the same year. 2017 also marked a huge year as Swift made her historic comeback with her sixth album Reputation, and at its secret session, the singer revealed that the song Gorgeous from the album was about Joe Alwyn.

The actor opened up about his connection with Swift for the first time in 2018 and noted that while he understood people’s fascination, he would prefer to keep things as private as possible. The next year, the two went to the Golden Globes separately. Rumors about their engagement first circulated in early 2019. However, it is yet to be confirmed whether the two were indeed engaged. The same year, Swift released her new album Lover, which had many songs about her and Alwyn’s relationship. In 2020, the couple was seen on a vacation together and even attended the Golden Globes together. The same year, Swift released her documentary Miss Americana, in which she addressed her relationship with Alwyn.

A lot went on in 2020 as Swift released her first pandemic album, Folklore, and revealed during Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions that William Bowery, a pseudonym for Joe Alwyn, had helped her write a lot of songs on the album. The same year, she released another pandemic album called Evermore, which also featured songs written by Joe Alwyn. In 2022, things started to go downhill when her record-breaking album Midnights came out, and fans speculated tension in the relationship. In 2023, speculation began that the two had broken up as Alwyn was missing from the Eras Tour. These rumors started doing rounds again, and she dropped her gut-wrenching single You Losing Me (from the Vault) as fans speculated and believed that Swift and Alwyn had broken up. Just months later, this news was confirmed as Swift started dating NFL player Travis Kelce.

Meanwhile, Taylor Swift is all set to release her new album, The Tortured Poets Department, this week on April 19, 2024. Even before the release of the album, fans speculate that the album is going to give an insight into Swift’s and Alwyn’s breakup.