When Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour began, People Magazine had a story about how Taylor and Joe Alwyn were fine, that after six years together, they didn’t need to live in each other’s pockets and he would visit her on tour when he could. It honestly didn’t seem suspicious to me at the time – I assumed they were fine, mostly because we rarely hear anything dramatic about them in the mainstream gossip press. But now… now I think the People story was mega-sus. It was a gossip stop-gap, right? It was Taylor telling her fans: don’t worry, don’t start rumor-mongering if you don’t see Joe around these days. Yeah. Joe opted out, or Taylor opted out, and here we are. JoeTay is OVER.

Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn have called it quits. ET has exclusively learned that the “Lavender Haze” singer and the British actor broke up a few weeks ago.

ET has also learned that the split was amicable and “it was not dramatic.” ET’s told “the relationship had just run its course. It’s why [Alwyn] hasn’t been spotted at any shows.” Swift, 33, is currently on her The Eras tour, which heads to Tampa, Florida next week.

It wasn’t so long ago when Swift and Alwyn were said to have been in a great place in their relationship. They started dating in late 2016, and a source told ET back in October that they were “doing great” and that their “relationship is super strong.” That update came just hours after Swift dropped her highly anticipated 10th studio album, Midnights, followed by seven additional songs released in her surprise 3am Edition of the album.

[From ET]

People Magazine also had a confirmation that they broke up – a “source close to the pair” confirmed the news, and they also point out that Joe hasn’t been to any of her Eras concerts (a fact which I find insignificant but I guess there’s a reason why Joe’s absence has been cited by multiple outlets). I know some Snake Fam members believe that this hasn’t been for-real confirmed, but… this is the confirmation. If People AND Entertainment Tonight had gotten it wrong, Taylor’s publicist would have crawled all over those outlets and gotten them to take down or correct the reports. Instead, it’s more than likely that the breakup happened weeks ago and Taylor’s team held the news and purposefully leaked the story the day before Easter because most people had taken off and weren’t paying attention to the news.

As for the split… well, I was genuinely surprised. I hadn’t gotten a vibe from JoeTay, and I really thought they were solid. Some of you might believe that Taylor wanted to get married and Joe didn’t, or that the “Lavender Haze” lyrics signal something or other. I really don’t know. If Taylor did want to marry him and he wasn’t into it, then so be it and I’m glad she’s moving on. This was her longest, most serious relationship – it began in the Obama administration for goodness sake – and she kept a lot of her life with Joe private. I do think that’s probably over – her next album will explain exactly what happened, I’m sure.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.