An old interview in which Matty Healy said dating Taylor Swift would be “emasculating” has resurfaced amidst rumours that The 1975 frontman and the “Shake It Off” singer are dating.
This week, a report from The Sun claimed that Swift and Healy are set to “go public with their romance” after her split from actor Joe Alwyn. According to The Sun’s anonymous source, the musicians are “madly in love” and have been FaceTiming and texting while they’re both on tour.
“Taylor and Joe actually split up back in February, so there was absolutely no crossover,” they added.
While there’s been no response from either party about the report, an interview with Healy that was published by British magazine Q in March 2016 has gained renewed attention in light of the romance rumours.
In the interview, the “Chocolate” singer appeared to be responding to rumours that he dated Swift back in 2014 – which he described as just a “flirtation”.
“I don’t do anything else, right, so it doesn’t leave a lot of room for me going out, or shagging someone,” he told Q, per NME. “So the one time I did have a flirtation with a girl it ends up going everywhere…I mean, I got on E! News and people were like, ‘Who’s Matt Healy?’ so that was cool.”
“But I didn’t make a big deal out of it myself,” Healy continued. “It’s not really anything to talk about, because if she wasn’t Taylor Swift we wouldn’t be talking about her. She wasn’t a big impact on my life. It’s just interesting to me how interested the world is about Taylor Swift.”
When asked whether he worries about losing himself in a relationship, Healy replied: “Yeah. Absolutely. And the reason I mention that is because if I had gone out with Taylor Swift I would’ve been, ‘F***ing hell! I am NOT being Taylor Swift’s boyfriend.’
“You know, ‘F***. THAT,’” he added. “That’s also a man thing, a de-masculinating, emasculating thing.”
Healy’s comments received considerable backlash for being “misogynistic” at the time – so much so that The Guardian even published an op-ed in defense of Healy, titled, “Matt Healy’s comments about Taylor Swift were not the words of a misogynist”.
In response, the “Robbers” singer shared a series of tweets clarifying his interview comments about Swift.
“Now I may admit to being an idiot on occasion, but I am not a misogynist,” he said in a since-deleted tweet posted on 18 March 2016. “This suggestion makes me really sad.”
He continued: “I was for a very short time immersed in a celebrity world that I found confusing and scary. At that time, I had fears of being ‘somebody’s boyfriend’ (remember this is all speculation as we never dated!) before even being recognized for my music or presence as a person in my own right.”
“Now I don’t pride myself on being more intelligent, or worldly, or wise, or progressive, or even regressive than the next man but I DO pride myself on being honest. I was being HONEST about all the thoughts, feelings, and situations that come along when people ASSUME you are dating the most famous woman on the planet. I am telling you from experience it’s an all-consuming whirlwind and something that for me elicited a lot of self-exploration.”
Healy went on to explain that Swift had gone to The 1975’s concert in December 2014, and that he’s since been asked by “90 per cent of journalists” about his interaction with the “Bad Blood” singer.
“I have said on countless occasions that I found her to be one of the most gracious, hard working, creatively gifted, and beautiful women that I have had the pleasure to meet. I personally have a lot of respect and admiration for her. Why would I not?”
“I didn’t even date Taylor, but the media’s incessant and brutal obsession with her has meant that even a guy who DIDN’T DATE HER has been so battered by their never-ending questions that he’s inevitably said something that can be lifted and molded into something that resembles ‘shade’. It’s really sad.”
Healy isn’t the only celebrity Taylor Swift has been romantically linked to in recent months. The “Blank Space” singer was also rumoured to be dating Formula One driver Fernando Alonso.
However, it seems Swift’s fans (also known as Swifities) are fed up with the steady flow of speculation about her love life.
“Her dating life has… nothing to do with you stop saying she’s dating a random man every two days… let her live her life without speculating every two minutes,” said one fan in response to the dating rumours.
“Does Taylor Swift know she’s dating Fernando Alonso, Bradley Cooper, Dylan O’Brien, and Matty Healy at the same time?” another person joked.
Swift is single for the first time in six years following her split from British actor Joe Alwyn. Entertainment Tonight was first to report the news of the breakup on 8 April, citing that the “relationship had just run its course”.
The outlet explained that their recent split is the reason why Alwyn has not been present at any of Swift’s Eras shows. The “Bejeweled” singer is currently playing across the US as part of her Eras Tour, which Alwyn has not been spotted at since she began touring on 18 March.
A source also told People that the 33-year-old singer and the 32-year-old actor allegedly split due to “differences in their personalities”.
“Joe has struggled with Taylor’s level of fame and the attention from the public,” the source said. “The differences in their personalities have also become harder to ignore after years together. They’ve grown apart.”
