It was the relationship that dominated headlines and saw a crowd of paparazzi following them everywhere – but just as swiftly as it began, it was over.
Now, Tom Hiddleston is finally opening up about his time with Taylor Swift in a new interview with GQ Magazine and the reason why the whirlwind romance ended.
Describing the ‘Bad Blood’ songstress as “an amazing woman”, Tom said the pair “had the best time” together.
However, the reaction to their relationship – which saw the couple snapped getting dinner, meeting each other’s families and enjoying a loved-up getaway in Europe – was less than favourable, with many speculating whether the entire thing was a PR stunt.
“Of course it was real,” Tom insisted, when asked about those rumours.
According to The Night Manager star, both he and Taylor wanted a normal relationship: “So we decided to go out for dinner, we decided to travel … She’s incredible. [But] a relationship in the limelight … A relationship always takes work. And it’s not just the limelight. It’s everything else.”
Watch Taylor and Tom dancing together at the Met Gala last year. Story continues below.
Of course, one of the most infamous photos ever taken of the pair was snapped during Taylor’s star-studded Fourth of July party, where Tom was seen sporting an ‘I Heart T.S.’ singlet.
The photos sparked an instant backlash after they appeared online, but Tom said the whole thing was simply meant to be a light-hearted joke.
“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,” he explained.
Clearly, all the attention over the tank top made the actor uneasy, with Tom later explaining: “So the hardest thing is that that was a joke among friends on the Fourth of July … I was just surprised that it got so much attention. The tank top became an emblem of this thing.”
The pair’s relationship eventually ran its course after just three months, with news of the split first being reported in September.