Taylor Swift reveals in resurfaced clip she didn't 'like' hidden relationships before discreet romance with Joe Alwyn

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Pop sensation Taylor Swift once admitted that she detested "hiding" her romances from the public before largely avoiding the spotlight during her 6-year-long relationship with Joe Alwyn.

The British actor and Grammy-winning artist were first connected in May 2017, when it was rumored that they had been discreetly dating for several months.

After dating for six years, the couple called it quits in early 2023. A source informed PEOPLE at the time that "differences in their personalities" were the reason behind Swift and Alwyn's breakup.

Taylor Swift preferred to 'live my life' without worrying about what others might say

In a 2012 interview with 'The Chatty Man', Swift, 34, stated, "To me, it all depends on who you’re with. If they have a serious issue with it then you, I guess, hide or whatever but I don’t really like that."

"Because it makes me feel like I’m running from the law or something. I don’t want to feel like I’m a fugitive, like, ‘Oh my God, we’re having a relationship! Better put on a mask and stuff!’ the pop star exclaimed at the time, per Us Weekly.

Swift stated that she would prefer to "live my life" without worrying about what other people would say. "I feel like if you can be in a relationship and have it seem normal, that would be good," she remarked.

The pop star’s 'Chatty Man' interview came four years before she began dating Alwyn, 32, in 2016.  The couple mostly remained low key during their almost six-year romance, often dodging journalists by dashing to cars and walking the red carpet separately.

Swift said at the time that her extreme privacy was a result of being scrutinized following her breakups with Calvin Harris and Tom Hiddleston, as well as her dispute with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.

Taylor Swift earlier revealed why she had year-long public disappearance in 2016

Although the precise date of their first encounter is unknown, fans have theorized that Swift and Alwyn met during the 2016 Met Gala. Since then, the couple has had several adorable public encounters but has kept many intimate elements of their relationship a secret.

Swift explained her 2016 year-long public disappearance from view in her 2020 documentary 'Miss Americana': "I was falling in love with someone who had a wonderfully normal, balanced life."

"We decided together we wanted our relationship to be private. I was happy. But I wasn’t happy in the way I was trained to be happy. It was happiness without anyone else’s input. We were just happy."

Swift's 2017 album Reputation—which had songs like 'Call It What You Want,' 'Dress,' 'Dancing With Our Hands Tied,' and 'King of My Heart'—which talked about running away together and loving each other over social pressure, mirrored this private attitude in large part.

Speaking on her relationship with Alwyn, Swift stated in a 2019 interview with The Guardian, "I've learned that if I do, people think it's up for discussion, and our relationship isn't up for discussion."

In a November 2020 interview with Rolling Stone, Swift said of her relationship with Alwyn: "I think that in knowing him and being in the relationship I am in now, I have definitely made decisions that have made my life feel more like a real life and less like just a storyline to be commented on in tabloids."

The 2019 album Lover was largely the same, but astute listeners noticed that Swift occasionally alluded to anxiousness in her lyrics, especially in tracks like 'Lover,' 'The Archer,' and 'Afterglow.'

Songs like 'Bejeweled' and 'Anti-Hero' from Midnights, released in October 2022, have a lot of similar themes. Less than a year later, Swift and Alwyn announced their final separation.

For his part, Alwyn stated in November 2018 that he wanted to keep their relationship as private as possible. "Someone’s private life is, by definition, private. No one is obliged to share their personal life," he told British GQ at the time.

Swift and Alwyn did, however, provide fans with a few views into their charming love tale; the two co-wrote a few songs for her album Folklore and had a brief appearance in the 'Miss Americana' documentary.