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Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston’s three-month romance from June through August last year captivated us, before leaving us with a lot of questions. One of the main ones being, why did Tom declare his love for Taylor by wearing a singlet?
When the photos from Taylor’s infamous ‘Taymerica’ 4th of July party hit the internet, we couldn’t help but wonder about the origins of the ‘I heart T.S.’ singlet Tom wore to go swimming. Did he make it himself? And why was he covering up – was his British skin tone really too sensitive for the Rhode Island sun?
Image: @swift1999
At last, some answers. In a new interview with GQ magazine, the *Thor* star was ready to reflect on the whirlwind relationship that dominated headlines for months – and even explained Singlet Gate.
“The truth is it was the Fourth of July and a public holiday and we were playing a game and I slipped and hurt my back,” Tom told the magazine. “And I wanted to protect the graze from the sun and said, ‘Does anyone have a T-shirt?’ And one of her friends said, ‘I’ve got this.’
“We all laughed about it. It was a joke. Among friends.”
“I was just surprised that it got so much attention,” he added. “The tank top became an emblem of this thing.”
(We’d still like to know which member of Taylor’s squad brought that singlet).
The 35-year-old told GQ he struggled with the public perception of their new relationship.
“The narratives that are out there altogether have been extrapolated from pictures that were taken without consent or permission, with no context,” he says.
“Nobody had the context for that story.”
Taylor and Tom’s relationship attracted even more public attention than most celebrity romances, given she’d recently split from Calvin Harris, and had been pictured dancing with Tom at the Met Gala months before, indicating there might have been some ‘overlap’. It was a soap TV show plot line come to life, and involved Taylor, one of the world’s biggest pop stars.
On top of that, rather than hiding away, Taylor and Tom appeared in public together with increasing regularity, and embarked on a tour that included his mother’s home in the UK, Italy, the infamous 4th of July party in the US and even a stint in Australia.
“We decided to go out for dinner, we decided to travel … [but] a relationship in the limelight…A relationship always takes work. And it’s not just the limelight. It’s everything else.”
In the wide-ranging interview he also shut down the idea that their relationship was only for publicity (“Of course it was real”) and refused to diss his ex.
“Taylor is an amazing woman. She’s generous and kind and lovely, and we had the best time.”
And, he added, he has no regrets.
“… because you have to fight for love. You can’t live in fear of what people might say. You know, you have to be true to yourself.”
