Paul Mescal has spoken out about the wild rumors surrounding his personal life in a recent interview with GQ. The 28-year-old Gladiator II star, known for his breakout role in Normal People, opened up about his strict boundaries when it comes to discussing his private life and addressed one particularly bizarre rumor that had the internet buzzing.
Here’s what Paul had to say about relationships, privacy, and the strange accusations of ditching one-night stands in public parks.
On Keeping His Personal Life Private
Paul has recently been linked to singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams, and before that, he was famously in a relationship with Punisher artist Phoebe Bridgers. However, if you’re hoping for juicy details about his love life, you’re out of luck. Paul explained why he’s made the decision to keep that part of his life completely off-limits.
“I’ve learned that there’s certain lines in the sand now for me that just are going to be impenetrable for the benefit of my own sanity, but also the benefit of my work,” he shared with GQ. He elaborated on how oversharing can blur the line between his real life and the characters he plays.
“I think if you don’t have those boundaries up in terms of lines in the sand in regards to your private life, people know way too much about you, and then they can’t invest in the imagined landscape of your character because they know what your favorite thing to eat for breakfast is,” he continued.
Paul acknowledged that public interest in his relationships is inevitable, but that doesn’t mean he’s obligated to share details. “The speculation has been kind of mad for the last x amount of years. I’m not comfortable inviting any access into that part of my life. How I am in my private life is so precious to me because I get very little of it, and it might be public interest, but it’s not public-obligated information.”
Addressing the Wild Park Rumor
One of the more unusual rumors that circulated online, particularly on TikTok, was that Paul would allegedly take his one-night stands on walks through the park the next morning, point out a bird or a tree, and then make a run for it, leaving them behind in confusion.
When GQ asked him about this, Paul was quick to laugh it off. “Ohhhhhhh. F-king hell!” was his immediate reaction, recalling the moment he first heard about the rumor.
Paul was with his family when he came across the viral videos, and their reaction was much like his: pure amusement. “We were looking at the videos and we were pissing ourselves at it,” he said, making it clear that the rumors were entirely false. “Categorically untrue. And we were laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing.”
However, the laughter was short-lived for his mother, who found the rumor a little more concerning than funny. Paul shared, “The one thing that upset me was that I was in the kitchen, I remember my mum looking at the videos and she was getting upset. Isn’t that devastating?”
Paul sympathized with his mother’s protective instincts, understanding how tough it must be for her to see such things circulating about her son online. “I was like, Oh, it’s funny to us—my brother, me, my sister—because we know that this is the way the internet works. It’s hilarious. If it was true, it’d be f-cking bad, but as a rumor, it’s funny. Then I was like, Oh, if you’re a mother, her impulse is to come out and be like, ‘He wouldn’t do this.’”
While Paul Mescal may have set the record straight on this bizarre park rumor, it’s clear he’s taking it all in stride. For him and his family, it’s another funny, albeit strange, aspect of life in the spotlight. The actor seems more focused on setting healthy boundaries between his private life and the public’s curiosity, keeping both his sanity and his career in balance.
So, if you see a bird or a tree in the park, you can rest easy knowing Paul Mescal probably won’t be running in the opposite direction anytime soon!
