Tom Hiddleston's Taylor Swift t-shirt haunted him for months but he 'had no regrets'
Tom Hiddleston’s entanglement with Taylor Swift skyrocketed into a global phenomenon because of a t-shirt. No one expected it to end up the way it did, even the Thor actor himself. The famous photo of the star wearing a t-shirt that read ‘I heart TS’ was a stepping stone into the relentless media spotlight he wasn’t ready for. But he did open up over their three-month relationship a time later, and Tom made it clear his time with Taylor was real. Probably too real.
We all saw it. Tom Hiddleston in a tight white tank top with I heart Taylor Swift on it as he frolicked in the sea at one of the singer’s famous July 4 parties. The music star adores the holiday and always puts on a big show for her friends and family at her home in Rhode Island. But back in 2016 pictures of them having fun on the waterfront broke headlines around the world and has been scarred into fans’ minds. Their short whirlwind romance was claimed to be just for publicity – echoing what trolls are saying now about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. However, amid the chaos of social media and the limelight, Tom Hiddleston spoke out about his time with Taylor Swift, and it’s pretty clear it meant more to him than a paparazzi photo taken with an extremely long lens.
Tom Hiddleston and Taylor Swift celebrated July 4th
Cast your minds back to 2016. Tay Tay was hosting her usual annual party at her lavish abode, which often sees her nearest and dearest on the guest list. Let’s not forget her star-studded friendships, including gal pal Selena Gomez often coming along.
But this year set off bigger fireworks than any July 4th party because Tom Hiddleston was wearing a Taylor Swift t-shirt, and also had a temporary tattoo of a red heart as well. Fans believed this was the movie star declaring his love for the songwriter, and when it came crashing down three months later, they then were convinced it was all for show.
But that’s not true.
The Hollywood star spoke to GQ the following year, and it was quite clearly real – maybe raw, intense and exactly how it should have been.
When asked about why he put on the shirt, he explained it was just to protect his skin from the sun.
He said: “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.’ ”
A friend pulled out the t-shirt all Taylor Swift friends jokingly have, and Tom Hiddleston pulled it on.
“And we all laughed about it,” he added. “It was a joke.”
‘We had the best time’
When asked if the relationship was authentic, he called the music icon an “amazing woman”, reeling off a list of compliments. “Generous, kind and lovely” were among the descriptive words he said for her. But when pressed if it was all fake, he replied directly.
“Of course it was real,” he said.
But it touched a nerve, because he spoke about how the public mania around Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston’s relationship became out of control.
Tom added: “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.”
He admitted he was “surprised” it received so much attention and how the Taylor Swift shirt became an ’emblem’.
The 43-year-old went on: “A relationship in the limelight… A relationship always takes work. A relationship in the limelight takes work. And it’s not just the limelight. It’s everything else.”
The celebrity couple did try to make it work. They went to England to meet his family, they also traveled to Australia when he was filming Thor: Ragnarok and enjoyed dinner out together. But it wasn’t to last. Three months later, they split.
‘You have to fight for love’
But the actor visited the GQ journalist at 5.15am the following morning to talk more. It could have been to clarify what he said about Taylor, or just to get more things off his chest.
The writer observers: “He’s here as someone who is still crushed by the end of a relationship”.
Maybe he was, at the time, in 2017.
“You have to fight for love,” Tom told her, “You can’t live in fear of what people might say. You know, you have to be true to yourself”.
Perhaps it was the actor’s way of trying to explain, although it was three months, it was still worth it. He has no regrets. Even with the unending spotlight shining on them for 12 weeks.
It was incredibly candid, opening up about love, break-ups and relationships as a whole. It said a lot more about what happened between Tom Hiddleston and Taylor Swift than any t-shirt could.
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