When Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston were unintentionally “caught” by “paparazzi” cavorting around her Rhode Island estate last year, the whole world pretty much issued a major “WTF?” Not only were they the most unlikely couple ever, the whole thing just seemed like the biggest (and yet most pointless) publicity stunt ever. Around the same time, Tom was photographed wearing an “I <3 TS” tank top, putting further question marks over that whole mess of a “relationship.” They broke up a few months later, if they were ever actually together. So was it real or what? Tom says it was.
In a new feature for GQ, Tom was asked outright what was going on with the tank top and with TSwift in general. Here’s his bizarre explanation, which, if you’re anything like me, you’ll read with a heavy dose of side eye:
“Taylor is an amazing woman,” reads the prepared statement Tom Hiddleston has memorized and is now giving me at The Bull & Last, where his voice has gone low. “She’s generous and kind and lovely, and we had the best time.” But I didn’t ask that, I say. I asked something else. So I wait, and he says, “Of course it was real.”
. . .
“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.’ ” The friend pulled out the “I ? T.S.” tank top that Taylor’s friends are contractually obligated to own. “And we all laughed about it. It was a joke.”
Yeah… I’m sure they all had a hearty laugh. This whole thing makes me feel no more convinced than I ever was that this was the real deal, but it DOES make me wonder one important thing: Does Taylor really make her “friends” (i.e. curated group of acquaintances to be photographed with) declare their love for her via their clothing choices? I can totally see that being the case!
What I can’t see being the case is Tom Hiddleston and Taylor Swift being in an actual relationship. Nope, still not buying it. Whichever of their PR people cooked this one up made a major miscalculation on this one.