Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn. ZUMAPRESS/MEGA; David Fisher/BAFTA/Shutterstock
Not so delicate. Taylor Swift is shaking it off following her split from Joe Alwyn — and settling in nicely to her newly single status.
“Taylor is handling the breakup really well and she’s feeling very optimistic about her future,” a source exclusively tells Us Weekly. “She truly believes whatever is meant to be, will be, and knows everything happens for a reason.”
The Folklore songstress, 33, is “enjoying her freedom” after calling it quits with Alwyn, 32, earlier this month, the insider adds — but is still “adjusting to the single life” and isn’t ready to jump back into a relationship quite yet. “She isn’t dating anybody and isn’t even thinking about getting into another relationship anytime soon,” the source explains.
While Swift — who is currently in the midst of her Eras Tour after a five-year hiatus from being on the road — may be focused on herself for the time being, she’s still making time for her inner circle in between performances.
“She appreciates all the love and support she’s received from family and friends,” the insider tells Us, noting that the Midnights artist is “doing great” amid this new chapter of her life.
The Grammy winner was most recently spotted spending time with BFFs Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds on Wednesday, April 19. The trio were seen getting into a white car before they headed to dinner at Casa Cipriani in Manhattan. Earlier in the week, Swift enjoyed a meal with collaborator and friend Jack Antonoff and his fiancée, Margaret Qualley, at NYC celebrity hotspot Carota.
While the “Cardigan” singer is leaning on her loved ones, Alwyn, for his part, was rolling solo when he was publicly spotted for the first time since the pair called it quits. The Mary Queen of Scots star looked serious as he spoke on the phone outside of a hotel in London on Thursday, April 20. One day prior, his Brutalist costar Emma Laird posted a photo of the England native via her Instagram.
The Favourite star and Swift, who were first linked in May 2017, were notoriously private during their nearly six-year relationship. A source told Us earlier this month that the pop star’s A-list celebrity status was a contributing factor to the twosome going their separate ways.
Taylor Swift asey Flanigan/imageSPACE/MEGA
“Fame factored into their split. Joe is very shy and never liked all the attention that came with dating one of the most popular singers in the world,” the insider explained at the time, adding that Alwyn didn’t “blame” Swift for her popularity but “didn’t like having to be on all the time.”
In January 2019, the Conversations With Friends star told Mr Porter’s The Journal that the duo’s decision to stay low-key shouldn’t be shocking.
“I don’t think anyone you meet on the streets would just spill their guts out to you, therefore why should I?” he said. “And then that is defined as being ‘strangely private.’ Fine. But I don’t think it is … I think it’s normal.”
Swift, meanwhile, opened up about the pair’s decision to stay out of the spotlight in her 2020 Netflix documentary, Miss Americana. The Pennsylvania native met Alwyn shortly after her respective splits from Calvin Harris and Tom Hiddleston and amid her feud with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian — both of which led her to avoid the public eye.
“I felt alone, I felt really bitter,” she confessed. “I felt sort of like a wounded animal lashing out. I figured I had to reset everything. I had to reconstruct an entire belief system for my own personal sanity. I also was falling in love with someone who had a wonderfully normal, balanced life.”
She continued: “I was falling in love with someone who had a wonderfully normal, balanced life. We decided together we wanted our relationship to be private,” she said. “Even though it was [a] really horrible [time], I was happy. But I wasn’t happy in the way I was trained to be happy. It was happiness without anyone else’s input. We were just … happy.”
Swift would go on to write multiple songs about finding solace in her romance with the Harriet star including “Sweet Nothing” off her 2022 album Midnights, a track she cowrote with Alwyn. (The twosome collaborated multiple times for her records Folklore, Evermore and Midnights.)
“They said the end is coming / Everyone’s up to something / I find myself running home to your sweet nothings / Outside, they’re push and shoving / You’re in the kitchen humming / All that you ever wanted from me was sweet nothing,” Swift croons on the piano ballad.
Despite recently pulling the plug on her longtime romance, the Red singer found a way to give fans a subtle sign she was doing well during her Saturday, April 15, Eras performance in Tampa, Florida. When a concertgoer held up a sign that read, “You OK?” Swift briefly paused to give a thumbs-up before continuing her choreography.
