Joe Alwyn has opened up about his split from Taylor Swift for the first time. Here's a complete timeline of their 6-year relationship.

Both Alwyn and Swift attended the 2016 Met Gala, which was themed "Manus X Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology."

At the time, Swift was in a relationship with Calvin Harris, who didn't attend the event. They broke up just one month later.

Fans have speculated that Alwyn caught Swift's eye at the famous gala, based on the lyrics in Swift's 2017 song "Dress."

"Flashback when you met me / Your buzzcut and my hair bleached," she sings. Alwyn showed up to the Met Gala with a shaved head, while Swift paired a platinum-blonde bob with her Louis Vuitton dress.

One month after breaking up with Tom Hiddleston, Swift and her friends attended a private Kings of Leon concert at The Bowery Hotel in New York.

A video shared by a fan website revealed that Alwyn was also in attendance, though it remains unclear if the pair interacted inside the closed-door event. 

The singer included photocopied pages of her diary entries with physical copies of her 2019 album "Lover." One excerpt seemed to reference her relationship with Alwyn.

Dated January 3, 2017, Swift wrote, "I'm essentially based in London, hiding out trying to protect us from the nasty world that just wants to ruin things."

"We have been together and no one has found out for 3 months now," she added. "I want it to stay that way because I don't want anything about this to change."

The Sun broke the news that Swift and Alwyn had been secretly dating for months. 

A source told The Sun that the singer flew to see her British beau in London "via private jets and her security has made it a military-like mission to prevent her from being seen."

The outlet also reported, "She's been walking around with Joe in London using disguises, like scarves and hats, to keep her identity under wraps."

Since news of their relationship broke, fans began scouring Swift's songs and music videos for Easter eggs that point to Alwyn.

These clues date back to 2017's "Reputation," which Swift described as "an album about finding love throughout all the noise."

For example, the numbers "89" and "91" appear alongside each other in the "...Ready For It?" music video, released as a single on September 17, 2017.

Swift was famously born in 1989. The second number likely stands for 1991, Alwyn's birth year. At one point in the video, Swift also types "21" into a keypad; Alwyn's birthday is February 21.

A similar detail was noticed in the music video for "Delicate," another single from "Reputation." Swift dances in front of a visible sign that reads "Joe's Deli."

Several songs on the album, including "Gorgeous" and "New Year's Day," seem to reference to Alwyn's British accent and "ocean-blue eyes."

The "Shape of You" singer described Alwyn as a "really, really friendly, really good dude" on Capital London's Breakfast Show.

"They are very much in love, they have quite a low-key relationship, which Taylor likes. It's normal, and no one really knows about it right now," he said.

One month later, Alwyn and Swift watched Sheeran perform at London's Jingle Ball. Fans captured videos of the couple slow-dancing to the song "Perfect."

When Swift recorded a cover of "September" as a Spotify exclusive, she tweaked the first line ("Do you remember the 21st night of September?") to say "the 28th night of September."

For an Easter egg enthusiast like Swift, it's hard to imagine this noticeable switch wasn't meant to send a message. Fans have theorized that September 28 was the day Alwyn professed his love to Swift.

In fact, Swift liked a Tumblr post explaining the theory.

Although Swift and Alwyn have never shared any photos together, they posted near-identical solo shots on Instagram just one day apart.

Swift shared hers on May 7, 2018, writing in the caption: "Today I met a cactus."

The following day, Alwyn shared his photo with just a cactus emoji.

Alwyn played the role of Baron Masham in the 2018 period drama "The Favourite." Swift hailed the film as "absolutely phenomenal" the day before its release.

She also supported Alwyn leading up to the premiere and accompanied him to the showing at the New York Film Festival in September 2018.

Swift has built a reputation as a confessional songwriter, drawing lyrical inspiration from her personal life. Fans believe albums such as "Reputation" and "Lover" contain references to Alwyn — although Swift never explicitly confirms who inspires her songs.

In a 2018 interview with The Sunday Times, the actor was asked if being the subject of his girlfriend's songs bothered him.

"No, not at all. No. It's flattering," he replied.

Earlier that month, he defended their privacy in an interview with Esquire. When asked if he was aware of the challenges that come with dating a superstar, Alwyn said he "didn't seek out advice" before getting involved with Swift.

"I know what I feel about it," he explained. "I think there's a very clear line as to what somebody should share, or feel like they have to share, and what they don't want to and shouldn't have to."

In an interview with Vogue, Swift described her seventh album as "a love letter to love, in all of its maddening, passionate, exciting, enchanting, horrific, tragic, wonderful glory."

Although she didn't mention Alwyn by name, much of the album seems inspired by their long-term relationship: "I Think He Knows" describes her attraction to a man with "indigo eyes" and "London Boy" is an explicit declaration of love for a Brit. Both the title track and "Paper Rings" drop hints about wanting to get married.

The album closer "Daylight" is especially revealing. Originally planned as the title track, it reveals how Swift's vision of love had changed from passion and heat to comfort and warmth: "And I can still see it all in my head / Back and forth from New York, sneaking in your bed / I once believed love would be burning red / But it's golden."

Swift's "Reputation" was nominated for best pop vocal album at the 2019 Grammys, but she skipped the Los Angeles ceremony to attend the BAFTA Awards after-party in London. ("The Favourite" received seven awards that night.)

Swift congratulated the film's cast in an Instagram post, but Alwyn wasn't pictured.

Swift steered clear of her relationship with Alwyn during an August 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," she said.

The singer continued, "If you and I were having a glass of wine right now, we'd be talking about it — but it's just that it goes out into the world. That's where the boundary is, and that's where my life has become manageable. I really want to keep it feeling manageable."

The couple walked the red carpet separately but sat together at the 2020 Golden Globe Awards.

Swift presented the award for best animated feature film and was nominated for best original song for "Beautiful Ghosts," which was featured in the movie "Cats."

The Netflix documentary "Taylor Swift: Miss Americana" doesn't focus on Swift's love life, but she does open up about the beginning of her relationship with Alwyn.

"I also was falling in love with someone who had a really wonderfully normal, balanced, grounded life and we decided together that we wanted our relationship to be private," she says. During this scene, a montage plays showing Swift in a series of home videos, but the person filming is never shown.

The camera crew only catches Alwyn in one brief scene, when Swift runs backstage to hug him after a concert on her Reputation Stadium Tour.

Swift and Alwyn didn't walk the 2020 NME Awards carpet, but they did sit next to each other at the show, which took place at the O2 Academy Brixton in London.

A fan seated above Swift and Alwyn recorded several videos of the couple kissing and hugging. When the pop star won the award for best solo act in the world, she embraced the actor and kissed him once again.

Alwyn provided a rare glimpse into his and Swift's private life by sharing photos of Benjamin Button, one of the pop star's three cats, on his Instagram story. 

Although Swift didn't appear, fans recognized Benjamin from her own social media and took it as confirmation the couple were isolating together.

Swift shocked fans by announcing that she'd release her eighth studio album "Folklore" just one day in advance.

Swift began writing the album in April 2020 while she was quarantined with Alwyn. She told fans that she "poured all of my whims, dreams, fears, and musings" into the music, playing with characters and different perspectives to tell emotional stories.

The album is full of songs about heartbreak, fear, and betrayal, including "The 1," "Peace," and "Hoax."

Upon the album's release, fans grew concerned that Swift was drawing inspiration from her relationship with Alwyn to write these devastating tracks.

However, the 11th track is a sweet love song titled "Invisible String," which seems to specifically reference details about Alwyn's life, like his teenage job at a frozen yogurt shop. 

Two songs on the album, "Exile" and "Betty," were credited to a mysterious cowriter named William Bowery. Fans immediately began suspecting that it was a pseudonym for Alwyn, which Swift later confirmed.

"Joe plays piano beautifully, and he's always just playing and making things up and kind of creating things," she revealed in Disney+ film "Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions." 

Alwyn shared an Instagram photo of himself hiking in Utah in August 2020, and Swift immediately liked the post.

Although she wasn't in the photo, a source told E! News that Swift accompanied Alwyn on the trip. 

"Taylor has been based in Nashville, but she just went to Park City, Utah for a few days with Joe," the source said. "They're back in LA."

For her November 2020 cover story for Rolling Stone, Swift discussed her private relationship in a conversation with Paul McCartney.

"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," she told McCartney.

Swift added: "Whether that's deciding where to live, who to hang out with, when to not take a picture — the idea of privacy feels so strange to try to explain, but it's really just trying to find bits of normalcy."

When the former Beatle asked if Alwyn sympathizes with the reality of Swift's fame, she replied, "Oh, absolutely."

She also confirmed that "Peace," the penultimate track on "Folklore," is "rooted" in her personal life and relationship with Alwyn. She said the song was inspired by "how scary" it can be to carve out a "human life within a public life," especially when the other person has a "grounded, normal way of living."

"I, oftentimes, in my anxieties, can control how I am as a person and how normal I act and rationalize things, but I cannot control if there are 20 photographers outside in the bushes and what they do and if they follow our car and if they interrupt our lives," she said. "I can't control if there's going to be a fake weird headline about us in the news tomorrow."

When Swift announced her second surprise album of 2020, she told fans that many of the same collaborators from "Folklore" helped craft "Evermore" — one of them being Alwyn. 

The actor is credited (under the same pseudonym) on three "Evermore" tracks: "Champagne Problems," "Coney Island," and "Evermore."

He later said that writing songs with his girlfriend in quarantine was "as basic as some people made sourdough."

"It was completely off the cuff, an accident," Alwyn told Vulture. "She said, 'Can we try and sit down and get to the end together?' And so we did."

Swift and Alwyn made a rare public outing together in early January 2021, taking a stroll through North London Public Park with the actor's mother, Elizabeth Alwyn. 

The couple held hands, and all three individuals wore masks, as seen in a photograph published by E! News. 

An anonymous source told the outlet that Swift has been splitting her time between England and Nashville during the pandemic.

"She is back and forth between Nashville and England spending time with her family and with Joe's family. They take walks in the neighborhood and go on hikes to get fresh air," they said, adding that Alwyn often "comes along."

On the Netflix show "Ginny & Georgia," a teenager tells her mother that she goes "through men faster than Taylor Swift." 

After fans took notice of the line in March 2021, which many considered misogynistic, "RESPECT TAYLOR SWIFT" began trending on Twitter.

The musician responded directly, slamming the joke as "lazy" and "deeply sexist" on Twitter. 

"How about we stop degrading hard working women by defining this horse shit as FuNnY. Also, @netflix after Miss Americana this outfit doesn't look cute on you," she wrote, adding a broken-heart emoji. "Happy Women's History Month I guess."

Alwyn, who hadn't liked a tweet since November 2020, returned to the social media platform to cosign Swift's message.

Swift thanked Alwyn in her acceptance speech after "Folklore" won album of the year at the 2021 Grammy Awards, making her the first woman to win the award three times.

"Joe, who is the first person that I play every single song that I write, and I had the best time writing songs with you in quarantine," she said onstage.

Alwyn's Hulu show "Conversations With Friends" was largely filmed in Dublin, but in July 2021, Alwyn was photographed with his costar Alison Oliver in Bray, a coastal town in the Irish county Wicklow.

Alwyn stars in the adaptation alongside Oliver, Jemima Kirke, and Sasha Lane. While the four actors filmed the 12-episode series, Swift visited the set and spent time with them, Kirke explained during an interview with iNews.

"We all became very close: Joe, me, Sasha, Alison and Taylor — we all became each other's pod," the former "Girls" star explained.

Swift seemed to confirm this in her 2022 song "Sweet Nothing," which was cowritten by Alwyn.

"I spy with my little tired eye / Tiny as a firefly / A pebble that we picked up last July," she sings in the first verse. "Down deep inside your pocket / We almost forgot it / Does it ever miss Wicklow sometimes?"

In "Conversations With Friends," Hulu's adaptation of Sally Rooney's debut novel, Alwyn plays Nick, a married actor that has an affair with a college student.

Alwyn discussed the limited series during a media presentation at the Cable and Television Association for Marketing in February 2022. When asked to share his personal opinion on open relationships, the actor responded by saying that such an arrangement seems "exhausting" but also reasoned, "people can do what they want and makes them happy."

He added: "I'm obviously happy in a monogamous relationship."

During an interview with Elle UK to promote "Conversations With Friends," Alwyn spoke about his decision to keep his relationship with Swift removed from the public sphere. 

Alwyn told the magazine that "it's not really" because he wants "to be guarded and private, it's more a response to something else."

"We live in a culture that is so increasingly intrusive," the actor continued. "The more you give — and frankly, even if you don't give it — something will be taken."

During an interview with Vulture, Alwyn declined to confirm speculation that he and Swift were engaged or already married.

"The truth is, if I had a pound coin for every time someone told me I've been engaged or I'm getting engaged, I would have a lot of pound coins," he said. "If the answer was yes, I wouldn't say. If the answer is no, I wouldn't say."

When "Conversations With Friends" premiered, Swift shared Time's review of the show on her Instagram and wrote that she "can confirm it's phenomenal."

Ahead of its release, Swift shared a video of herself explaining the inspiration behind her "Midnights" single "Lavender Haze." (It has since been deleted.)

According to the singer, "Lavender Haze" was a "common phrase" used in the '50s to describe being in love.

"That meant you were in that all-encompassing love glow," she said. "Theoretically, when you're in the lavender haze, you'll do anything to stay there."

"I think a lot of people have to deal with this now, not just 'public figures,' because we live in the era of social media," Swift added. "If the world finds out that you're in love with somebody, they're going to weigh in on it."

She added that during her six-year relationship, they've had to ignore "weird rumors, tabloid stuff" in order to "protect the real stuff."

In the song, Swift reveals that she was referring to speculation that she and Alwyn are engaged, secretly married, or planning to have children. ("No deal, that 1950s shit they want from me," she sings.)

The music video also seems to contain several nods to Alwyn, including a vinyl cover bearing the constellation for Pisces, his zodiac sign.

Swift said her 10th album contains real details about "sleepless nights scattered throughout my life," immediately distinguishing "Midnights" as more autobiographical than "Folklore" and "Evermore."

The 12th track, "Sweet Nothing," was cowritten by Swift and Alwyn, who is once again credited under the pen name William Bowery.

The lyrics seem to explore tender moments in their relationship, referencing their 2021 trip to Wicklow in the first verse and praising Alwyn's laid-back attitude in the chorus.

Swift uses the common phrase "sweet nothings" as a double entendre; it's typically used to describe the whisperings of a lover, but Swift also uses it to illustrate that her relationship is quiet and nondemanding ("You're in the kitchen humming / All that you ever wanted from me was sweet nothing").

After six years together, Swift and Alwyn went their separate ways.

Entertainment Tonight broke the news while Swift was on the road for The Eras Tour. People and Page Six later confirmed the report.

According to ET, the couple split a few weeks prior. Its source described their breakup as amicable, adding, "It was not dramatic."

"The relationship had just run its course. It's why [Alwyn] hasn't been spotted at any shows," the source said.

Representatives for Swift and Alwyn didn't respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Less than two months after the breakup made headlines, Swift announced she'd be releasing more music from the "Midnights" era, including a song that was cut from the original tracklist entitled "You're Losing Me."

The lyrics describe two lovers who are drifting apart and unable to communicate. Swift criticizes her muse for ignoring her sadness and neglecting her needs, which culminates in the song's unvarnished bridge: "I wouldn't marry me either / A pathological people pleaser / Who only wanted you to see her."

The song's producer, Jack Antonoff, later revealed that Swift wrote "You're Losing Me" in December 2021, when she was still publicly dating Alwyn.

In retrospect, fans wonder if "Midnights" hinted at cracks in their relationship.

The album includes songs like "Midnight Rain" and "Bejeweled," which depict Swift as an ambitious, untethered woman. In the latter's music video, Swift declines a wedding proposal and ends up alone in her castle.

The album's extended "3am Edition" also concludes with "Dear Reader," an intimate ballad about Swift's lonely experience with fame. She sings of returning to "a house, not a home, all alone 'cause nobody's there," adding, "No one sees when you lose when you're playing solitaire."

Swift's 11th studio album, "The Tortured Poets Department," contains some of her most uninhibited and forthright lyricism to date.

As usual, Swift has kept the identities of her muses private. But two songs, "So Long, London" and "Loml," appear to be most inspired by Swift's relationship with Alwyn.

"So Long, London" is likely intended as a sequel to "London Boy," an upbeat love song released in 2019 after Swift relocated to the English city.

Swift's new song explores how a familiar place, once so precious, can grow sinister over time. Likewise, a comfortable relationship can grow complacent and resentful. ("You swore that you loved me, but where were the clues? / I died on the altar waiting for the proof.")

"Loml" is similarly preoccupied with erosion. As Swift rehashes the relationship in question, the titular phrase "love of my life" gradually becomes "loss of my life."

The actor spoke about his relationship with and split from Swift in an interview with The Sunday Times over a year after their breakup.

"I would hope that anyone and everyone can empathize and understand the difficulties that come with the end of a long, loving, fully committed relationship of over six and a half years," he said.

The "Kinds of Kindness" actor said that the end of their relationship was a "hard thing to navigate."

"What is unusual and abnormal in this situation is that, one week later, it's suddenly in the public domain, and the outside world is able to weigh in," he added.

Alwyn told the Times that he had made his "peace" with misconceptions surrounding their split, especially after the couple had gone to great lengths to keep their relationship private.

"As everyone knows, we together — both of us, mutually — decided to keep the more private details of our relationship private. It was never something to commodify, and I see no reason to change that now," Alwyn said. "And, look, this is also a little over a year ago now, and I feel fortunate to be in a really great place in my life, professionally and personally. I feel really good."