Paul Mescal has broken his silence on TikTok rumours about his alleged behaviour following one-night stands.
For months, social media users have claimed that the Normal People actor would spend the night with someone, take them for a walk in the park the next morning, and then abruptly run off in the opposite direction.
Now in a new interview, the Irish star has responded to the speculation and the viral memes that followed, explaining that he first came across the videos over Christmas with his family.
“We were looking at the videos and we were pissing ourselves at it,” he told GQ. “Categorically untrue.”
However one member of his family was left upset by the internet rumours - his mother, Dearbhla.
“And we were laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing…And 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?” the Gladiator II star continued.
“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**king bad, but as a rumour, 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.’ “
Mescal, who has previously expressed discomfort with media intrusion into his personal life, said he has now established "impenetrable" boundaries.
He shared: “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.
“I mean, 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.”
