When Taylor Swift announced her 11th album would be called The Tortured Poets Department, many Swifties thought the title was a nod to her ex-fling Matty Healy, who often parades around the stage with a victim complex.
But Swift’s fans quickly uncovered an interview between her former boyfriend Joe Alwyn and Paul Mescal where the two claimed to be in a group chat called the “Tortured Man Club” alongside Andrew Scott, which seemed a little too similar to be a coincidence.
Scott shared how the group chat came to life… and quickly died out after.
“Let me tell you what that is!” the Ripley actor told Variety. Scott explained that he started the chat so that Alwyn and Mescal could chat about there respective roles in two Sally Rooney-based projects, Conversations With Friends and Normal People.
“So they were about to play these tortured characters, and I had played a tortured character in Fleabag. It wasn’t about our own characteristics!” he said. “I think there were three texts, like, ‘Hey, guys.’ You know those groups that you set up, and they just collapse.” Unless you’re in a group chat with some of the Marvel guys.
Even though Scott had a (short-lived) group chat with Alwyn, he’s still in touch with Swift, and even gave a nice humble brag about being able to text her. “Taylor’s new album is sensational! I texted her yesterday to say how amazing it is,” he said, before adding that his favorite track is “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” a track that is actually rumored to be about Matty Healy… but who really knows anymore.
