Jake Gyllenhaal
Taylor and Jake had a PDA-filled romance from October through December 2010. The Roadhouse actor was long rumored to be the subject of Taylor’s 2012 breakup ballad “All Too Well” from her Red album.
“I look back on this [Red] as my true breakup album, every other album has flickers of different things. But this was an album that I wrote specifically about pure, absolute, to the core, heartbreak,” Taylor said in 2020 in a teaser video for Rolling Stone and Amazon Music’s upcoming “500 Greatest Albums” podcast.
In an updated 10-minute version of “All Too Well” included on Red (Taylor’s Version), which was released in November 2021, Taylor seemed to indicate Jake broke up with her over their nine-year age difference. She included the new line, “You said if we had been closer in age maybe it would have been fine / And that made me want to die.”
Taylor hinted that Jake was OK with the songs on Red in a November 2013 interview with New York Magazine, without naming the Ambulance actor.
“He was like, ‘I just listened to the album, and that was a really bittersweet experience for me. It was like going through a photo album.’ That was nice,” she recalled. “Nicer than, like, the ranting, crazy emails I got from this one dude. It’s a lot more mature way of looking at a love that was wonderful until it was terrible, and both people got hurt from it — but one of those people happened to be a songwriter.”
Jake was asked about “All Too Well” in a February 2022 interview with Esquire, but said he didn’t listen to Red.
“It has nothing to do with me. It’s about her relationship with her fans,” he said of the song. “It is her expression. Artists tap into personal experiences for inspiration, and I don’t begrudge anyone that.”
Responding to the social media attention that came with the 10-minute version of the song, Jake said, “I’m not unaware that there’s interest in my life. My life is wonderful. I have a relationship that is truly wonderful, and I have a family I love so much. And this whole period of time has made me realize that.” Jake has been dating French model Jeanne Cadieu since 2018.