Paul Mescal might be one half of the hottest new celebrity couple, as he’s been seen getting close with singer (and Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour support act) Gracie Abrams. But the Irish actor has had to handle plenty of rumours about his romantic life, and with his biggest role yet on the horizon, as Paul takes on the lead in Ridley Scott’s long-awaited Gladiator sequel, he’s only going to be more under the spotlight. Ahead of the role, Paul has addressed *those* running rumours in a new interview.
In case you missed it at the time (or weren’t as online as the rest of us), let’s catch you up to speed. Late last year, an unfounded rumour that seems to have originated on TikTok started doing the rounds claiming that Paul had developed a rather strange habit when it came to dating and, erm, running. According to the whispers, after spending the night with a woman, Paul, 28, would take the other party for a walk in the park the next day, when he’d point out a bird or a tree, then run away. We’re not sure if it was his noted love of running around in east London that did it – or his infamous short shorts – but the rumour spread.
In a recent British GQ cover interview, the Normal People star was asked about the rumours, to which he responded, understandably, ‘Ohhhhhhh, f*cking hell.’ The actor, who used to date Phoebe Bridgers, then explained that the videos had started circulating during Christmas last year, and that him and his younger siblings, sister Nell and Donnacha, had found it hilarious. ‘We were looking at the videos and we were pissing ourselves at it. Categorically untrue. And we were laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing,’ he said.
Rather sweetly, however, one person who didn’t find the joke funny was his mum Dearbhla. ‘The one thing that upset me was that I was in the kitchen, I remember my mum looking at the videos and she was getting upset. Isn’t that devastating?’ he said. I was like, Oh, it’s funny to us – my brother, me, my sister – because we know that this is the way the internet works. It’s hilarious. If it was true, it’d be fucking bad, but as a rumour, it’s funny. Then I was like, oh, if you’re a mother, her impulse is to come out and be like, “He wouldn’t do this.”'
It’s not the first time a member of the Mescal family has spoken about this. In a recent interview, Paul’s sister Nell, who is a singer, admitted that while she’d found it funny, she struggled with knowing people could just make things up about her uber-famous sibling. ‘We find it really funny, because they’re never true, are they, like… who is making this up?!” she told The Independent. ‘To not be able to go, “F*ck you guys, it’s not true,” I find that pretty hard. It makes my skin crawl.’