One of the most fascinating celebrity mysteries of last year involved the short-lived relationship between pop star Taylor Swift and British actor Tom Hiddleston, better known as “Hiddleswift.” The couple’s picturesque outings around the world were staged so perfectly — with paparazzi following close by — that many people assumed it was a PR stunt.
Then the couple broke up in August; Swift sources cast blame Hiddleston’s way, saying that she was uncomfortable with his public displays of affection. In the meantime, Swift dropped off the grid (recently reemerging for a pre-Super Bowl concert and to promote her new single for the “Fifty Shades Darker” soundtrack) while Hiddleston won the Golden Globe for best actor in a miniseries. They have both been conspicuously silent about their relationship … until now.
On Wednesday, GQ dropped its new cover story about Hiddleston, which is an absorbing read. The actor has a lot of philosophical, rather vague thoughts about life, but also his relationship with Swift. Here’s the breakdown of what he said — and what he’s trying to say.
Hiddleston: “If you’re under attack … if your values are under attack, if you’re being shamed, if you’re being humiliated, the animal response is to hide in the bush. It’s to be less, to make yourself smaller, to diminish in size and volume. And the lesson of 2016 is we have to love more, we have to risk more, we have to be braver, we have to be more outspoken.”
This quote was in reference to Hiddleston deciding to speak up against the fake news epidemic. But the story’s author, Taffy Brodesser-Akner, wrote that “It wasn’t until much later that night, after we’d parted, that I realized we had started talking about Taylor Swift long before we started talking about Taylor Swift.”
The “under attack” may be in reference to the constant snark aimed at him and Swift shortly after they were photographed making out on a beach in Rhode Island — not only did it appear staged, it was conveniently a day before GQ dropped the bomb that Kim Kardashian said she had video proof that Swift knew about the lyrics to Kanye West’s controversial song “Famous.” As Hiddleston and Swift made their way on dates around the world (a Selena Gomez concert in Nashville, a visit to Hiddleston’s parents in England, a trip to the Colosseum in Rome), the paparazzi followed, and the mockery only got more intense. Some speculated their relationship looked so fake that it was performance art, and it clearly struck a nerve for Hiddleston.
Hiddleston: “Taylor is an amazing woman. She’s generous and kind and lovely, and we had the best time.” Afterward, Brodesser-Akner notes that wasn’t the question she asked, and he adds, “Of course it was real.”
In addition to shooting back at critics, the first quote echoes the very stilted statement Hiddleston gave the Hollywood Reporter early on in their relationship: “The truth is that Taylor Swift and I are together, and we’re very happy.” It also rings true to the Swift universe — with the exception of Calvin Harris, her exes don’t criticize her after the breakup.
Hiddleston: “The truth is, it was the Fourth of July and a public holiday and we were playing a game and I slipped and hurt my back. And I wanted to protect the graze from the sun and said, ’Does anyone have a T-shirt?’ And one of her friends said, ’I’ve got this.’ … And we all laughed about it. It was a joke.” Later, he added, “I was just surprised that it got so much attention. The tank top became an emblem of this thing.”
This is the explanation for the now-infamous “I ♥ T.S.” tank top that Hiddleston wore in the ocean during Swift’s annual July 4 party, which inspired many jokes across social media. Now, Hiddleston is spinning it as an inside joke that went awry. This quote is another way to emphasize that Swift’s Fourth of July parties are actually a lot of fun, and not — as Ryan Reynolds’s face implied in another photo from the party that went viral — a hostage situation.
Hiddleston: “I have to be so psychologically strong about not letting other people’s interpretations about my life affect my life. A relationship exists between two people. We will always know what it was. The narratives that are out there altogether have been extrapolated from pictures that were taken without consent or permission, with no context. Nobody had the context for that story.”
The curious phrase here is “pictures that were taken without consent or permission, with no context.” Given that every attendee at Swift’s July 4 party released a slew of Instagram photos, Hiddleston presumably means the mountain of paparazzi photos on their trips around the world; the morning shows in Australia practically had a meltdown when they arrived. However, Swift is very skilled at avoiding the paparazzi when she wants to.
So essentially, he’s blaming the media and observers for “extrapolating narratives” — when really, the fact that he and Swift were photographed so often (and so professionally) made it seem like they were, in fact, telling a very clear story about their relationship. So assuming Hiddleston isn’t being purposefully misleading, he is either very naive about the way celebrity works, or he is just completely unaware.
In the story, Hiddleston talks more about their relationship and breakup, and appears genuinely affected by it. He’s also still pretty glowingly positive about Swift, even in the aftermath. Ultimately, Brodesser-Akner concludes, “You can think whatever you want about Tom Hiddleston … but he is as bewildered by the whole thing as you and I are.” That’s the main takeaway from the interview: Hiddleston may have looked like he was participating in a carefully calculated game last summer. But at the end of the day — and as his reputation took a hit — he wants everyone to know that he still isn’t quite sure what happened.
