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Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal’s Breakup Before ‘Red’: Why They Split
Singer Taylor Swift and actor Jake Gyllenhaal dated for three months from 2010 to 2011. Their whirlwind relationship followed by a devastating split caused quite the stir since it seemingly inspired some songs on the singer’s Red album. Why did they break up? See inside their uncoupling ahead of the re-release of her 2012 album.
Multiple outlets reported at the time that the Nightcrawler actor ended things with the “Blank Space” singer due to the media attention they were receiving. The Brokeback Mountain star’s reps also claimed that their age difference played a role in their uncoupling. At the time, Jake was 29 and Taylor was 21.
The pair seemingly met through mutual friends. While some outlets claim they met at a dinner hosted by Gwyneth Paltrow, other reports say they were connected through Emma Stone.
Their subsequent split led Taylor to writing many now-iconic songs on her Red album that seemed to be about the Donnie Darko actor, including “All Too Well,” “I Knew You Were Trouble” and “We Are Never Getting Back Together.”
The Grammy winner reflected on naming her 2012 album during an interview with Song Writer Universe.
“I called it [Red] because of the tumultuous, crazy adventures in love and loss that it chronicles,” the “Wildest Dreams” artist said. “In my mind, when you experience love that’s fast paced and out of control and mixes infatuation, jealousy, frustration, miscommunication and all of those lovely emotions. In retrospect, it all looks red.”
Taylor admitted to Vogue in 2012 that she can be “ridiculously stupid” when she’s “really, really in love.” At the time, she was enjoying her single status while promoting Red, which she said was about a “crash-and-burn heartbreak.”
“I just don’t really feel like dating. I really have this great life right now, and I’m not sad and I’m not crying this Christmas, so I am really stoked about that,” she said, seemingly making a slight dig at Jake.
Fans have theorized bonus track “The Moment I Knew” was talking about the Love & Other Drugs actor standing her up at her December birthday party.
“Christmas lights glisten/I’ve got my eye on the door/Just waiting for you to walk in/But the time is ticking,” the lyrics read before the song ends, “You called me later/And said, ‘I’m sorry I didn’t make it’/And I said, ‘I’m sorry, too’/And that was the moment I knew.”
Taylor reflected on the romance that led her to writing “We Are Never Getting Back Together,” where she confessed she “really lost” herself.
“That’s a hard thing to come to terms with, realizing that you’ve changed something about yourself every day — little by little — and woke up and really didn’t recognize yourself anymore,” she told Country Daily at the time. “So, to have that song go to No. 1 on iTunes, within hours of it being put up, was really gratifying because you’ve got a song that’s dealing with all of your insecurities.”
These days, Taylor and Jake have both moved on. The “Cardigan” singer has been dating actor Joe Alwyn since 2016. As for the Los Angeles native, he has reportedly been dating model Jeanne Cadieu since late 2018.
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