Taylor Swift, as evidenced by her weekend in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is falling in love with boyfriend Travis Kelce and is likely (hopefully) not thinking about any of her exes. But don’t worry, because the rest of the world apparently is, and has crowned long ago ex Taylor Lautner as Swift’s “best ex.”
It’s a title apparently bestowed on Lautner by Swift’s fan base—the Swifties—and, when told about the honor over the weekend, Lautner reacted: “[That] sounds like a nice compliment to me,” he said, per People. “I will take it.”
Lautner and Swift met on the set of the film Valentine’s Day, where they played high school sweethearts; they went on to date for a few months back in 2009. And, though it didn’t work out with that Taylor, Lautner actually married another Taylor—Taylor Dome Lautner—and the couple celebrated their first wedding anniversary on Saturday. Lautner said of his wife, tying it all together with a bow, that she is a “diehard Swiftie.”
Lautner said his wife “let me know that I’m the only ex without a disk track now,” he said. “So that sounds like a nice thing. I’ll take it and run. No complaints here.” Taylor Dome Lautner (it’s getting confusing over here in Taylorland) said of Swift and Lautner “In my mind they’re not even exes.” Her husband added that Swift is “our friend.”
Back in July, Swift surprised fans by bringing Lautner out onstage during her Eras Tour stop in Kansas City. (The same show where Kelce was in the audience, wanting to give her his number backstage but not being able to do so. Insert Twilight Zone music here.) While onstage, Lautner cartwheeled and did a backflip, in homage to a scene he shared with Swift in Valentine’s Day.
“I’ve been in front of a lot of people before, but I’ve never been in front of 75,000 Swifties before,” he recalled of his appearance at the Eras Tour. “And it’s a different level of passion. So that was just pretty surreal.”
Lautner is no stranger to rabid fanbases—he did, after all, star in the Twilight franchise: “Twilight fans are definitely insanely passionate themselves,” he said. “So I had experienced a taste of that, [but] never 75,000 of them at once. And obviously what Taylor’s doing right now in her career is just unheard of. So, similar, but this was definitely up there. It’s a very, very cool experience.”
Proving why he is deserving of the “best ex” designation, Lautner continued, “She deserves everything that she is getting and going through right now because she’s the hardest-working person,” Lautner said. “And just being at the pinnacle that she’s at right now, the way that she carries herself and is just so gracious and kind to absolutely everyone, no matter who you are, it speaks to her character. And that’s the greatest part about her, in my opinion.”
