Joe Alwyn, Taylor Swift's ex, breaks silence on their split

Taylor Swift’s ex, Joe Alwyn, is speaking out about criticism surrounding their split following their “long and loving” relationship.

The British actor, who remains extremely private about his personal life, opened up for the first time about his split from the pop superstar in a new interview with The Sunday Times published on Saturday.

“I hope everyone can empathize and understand the difficulties that come with ending a long, loving, fully committed relationship of over six and a half years. It’s a hard thing to deal with,” Alwyn said, referring to the couple’s high-profile breakup last year while promoting their upcoming film “Kinds of Kindness.”

Racist lyrics on the new “Tortured Poets”?Taylor Swift sparks backlash

Joe Alwyn breaks silence on split

The “Conversation with Friends” star went on to say that “what is unusual and abnormal about this situation is that a week later it suddenly comes into the public domain and the outside world can intervene.”

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY daily crossword puzzle.

The former couple reportedly first met at the 2016 Met Gala in New York and their courtship spawned several alleged love songs about Alwyn, including “Delicate,” “Dress,” “Lover,” “Peace” , “London Boy”, “All of”. the girls you loved before” and more about the jet set in England for weeks and a lyricism that lifted the veil on their ultra-private love.

But last year, as Swift embarked on her Eras tour, the couple split. In September, Swift was seeing Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, as Alwyn faced criticism from fans and tabloids who speculated about the split, which he discussed in the Times article.

“So you have something very real suddenly thrown into a very unreal space: the tabloids, social media, the press, where it is then dissected, speculated upon, distorted beyond recognition. And the truth is that, on this last point, there will always be a gap between what is known and what is said. I’ve made peace with that,” he told the Times.

Alwyn added that “there will always be a gap between what is known and what is said,” referring to Swift’s April album “Tortured Poets” which includes the buzzy song “So Long, London.” Rumor has it that the track is her goodbye to the life she had with Alwyn and her farewell to a city she could have called home after the Eras tour ended.

“As everyone knows, we have decided together – both of us, mutually – to keep the most private details of our relationship private. This has never been something to be commodified and I see no reason to change that now,” Alwyn told the British media outlet. “And look, it’s also been a little over a year now and I feel lucky to be in a really good place in my life, professionally and personally, I feel really good.”

Taylor Swift’s 11 #1 Songsranked before the release of his 11th album

Alwyn reportedly inspired Swift’s songs

The actor has been one of the main inspirations for Swift’s music over the past five years. His albums “Reputation”, “Lover”, “Folklore”, “Evermore”, “Midnights” and “The Tortured Poets Department” all contain songs about him.