The internet’s favourite homegrown couple are “reportedly” engaged (again).
Following a profile of Paul Mescal ahead of his upcoming film Aftersun with The Guardian, which asserted that he is “now engaged” to singer Phoebe Bridgers, Twitter erupted into squealing excitement yesterday.
“No because Phoebe Bridgers watched Normal People, publicly thirsted over Paul Mescal and is now engaged to him and for that she’s my hero,” wrote one user. “I can’t believe we all watched phoebe bridgers and paul mescal’s first date on ig live and now they’re getting married,” wrote another.
i can’t believe we all watched phoebe bridgers and paul mescal’s first date on ig live and now they’re getting married 😭 pic.twitter.com/tTFFRNvf4u
— lia 🚀 (@beeefyfridgerss) November 6, 2022
However, the profile has since been updated to read “are reported to be engaged.” Of course, that hasn’t stopped the rumours escalating once again (talk of wedding bells first started after the two attended the Met Gala together earlier this year wearing matching engagement rings and then when Bridgers reportedly introduced the actor as her “fiancé” over Coachella weekend).
It’s fitting that on all of these occasions the news went viral on Twitter, considering it’s where the pair met. Back in May 2020 the singer thirsted over the actor by tweeting, “finished normal people and now I’m sad and horny oh wait”, to which the lead Mescal, who played small chain-wearing Connell, replied: “I’m officially dead.”
finished normal people and now I’m sad and horny oh wait
— traitor joe (@phoebe_bridgers) May 12, 2020
It is unknown whether the two had met before, but many assume that this horny internet meet-cute kick-started the relationship. Bridgers and Mescal, hailing from Los Angeles and Dublin respectively, proceeded to spend lockdown liking each other’s tweets and eventually following each other on Instagram – proving that sometimes celebrities really are just like us.
Fans couldn’t get enough of the potential link-up, with their initial social media flirtation causing so much fervour that only 9 days later Wonderland magazine hosted an Instagram live between the duo.
During the hour-long conversation, Mescal told Bridgers, "I think it’s well documented that I love your music," with the singer replying, "Well, that makes me blush.” What’s more, reports suggested that they stayed on after the chat to have drinks together.
Over the next two months the pair left frisky breadcrumbs about having the hots for one another, whether it was Bridgers called Mescal a “cute boy” in an interview with NME and confessing that, “I got a little pitter-patter in my heart when I saw” that he had followed her on Instagram. Or a cafe in Kinsale Ireland outing that they went on a breakfast date, “Fan-Tas-Tic day thanks to @mescal_paul and @phoebe_bridgers for calling to our café this morning for breakfast," wrote the Lemon Tree cafe on Twitter. All of which crescendoed with Mescal appeared in the music video for Bridger’s song Saviour Complex.
It was a year before fans were treated to another inside look at their blossoming relationship, when Bridgers and Mescal made it red carpet official at the LACMA Art + Film Gala. ”Paul thinks thousand island is called hundred years sauce," Bridgers tweeted later that night, presumably in reference to the American salad dressing, her boyfriend Paul Mescal and the riveting conversation being had on the night.
Although Mescal had since decided to delete Instagram – “I just don’t think it’s particularly useful for people to see, like, literally you. I thought it’s either get off the bus now or stay on it, and I wanted to get off. In 10 years, I might rue the day I threw out my social media, but look, it just is what it is,” he told The Guardian – Bridgers made it “Instagram official” on 11 December 2011 with a photo of the two cuddling on bed.
Whether Bridgers will soft launch the engagement (perhaps with a diamond-ring wearing mirror selfie?) – or if they’re even engaged at all – remains uncertain. However it’s clear that fans are heavily invested in the two.
