The people's pop princess Taylor Swift has anointed the lips that share a body with Tom Hiddleston's beloved bum.
It happened during a beach smooching sesh that looks a) more like drizzly Morecambe Bay than the swish American shoreline you'd expect, and b) incredibly set-up. So, what on earth's going on?
"SET UP?" we hear you cry...
Well, yes – as many Twitter users have pointed out, the snaps look more like a man taking his nan on her final visit to the beach than a romantic smooch with a hot new partner.
Plus, given the super-uber-mega-lockdown that Taylor Swift has on her private life, it seems odd that brand new pictures of her replacement boyf would just plop out. Unless she wanted to show the world that she can attract a man who's a bloody hoot, can rock a horned hat and throw some serious dancefloor shapes.
As for Tom, he gets to snog Taylor Swift and look like the kind of man who could play, say, James Bond in a movie. Just a name we pulled out of a hat there. Win-win! Or so a cynic would say. But let's play devil's avocado and dig a bit deeper.
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The mystery of the quick turnaround
Taylor is only around two weeks on from "officially" ending her relationship with Calvin Harris. Moving on so quickly doesn't look good. But isn't it actually likely that things ended much earlier?
It was reported that at Calvin's behest, Taylor never came to his bedside following his car crash. Sources at the time claimed that "her first reaction was to ask if he [Calvin] needed her to be with him, but Calvin told her everything was okay and he was just a little shaken up".
Plus he took the highest of the high ground and posted a tweet on June 2 to dispel any rumours about animosity, writing: "The only truth here is that a relationship came to an end & all that remains is a huge amount of love and respect".
So maybe it's been more than two weeks. Maybe they were on a break? Maybe they broke up months ago. Who knows?
Is there 'Bad Blooooooood' between Tay-Tay and Calvin?
Well, we're guessing that all that "love" and "respect" might have gone out of the window now, as Taylor has deleted every single picture of Calvin Harris on her Instagram profile. Meanwhile, Cal has deleted that break-up tweet and supposedly posted, "Oh boy it's about to go down" shortly before the news about #Swiffleton broke.
Did something happen to make Taylor not really care about hurting Calvin's feelings? Both parties must be pretty angry if they're basically deleting their relationship from t'internet. And it does seem like this could hurt her 'perfect pop' brand. This all points to the relationship being real, because if it's a PR stunt, then it's backfired.
Where does this leave Tom Hiddleston?
Well he's about to get A LOT more famous. There were cries to cast him as Bond even before his role on The Night Manager, and he'll be back on the big screen soon as Loki in Thor: Ragnarok.
Adding to his stardom could certainly help his Bond bid, and the bookies are already taking odds on Taylor doing the soundtrack and being a Bond girl. Although, unsurprisingly, the odds on Calvin Harris doing the theme song are very, very low.
Maybe Hiddy was just comforting his buddy Taylor after her break-up? They've made no comment, so it could simply be that he likes her a lot. He's previously been linked to Elizabeth Olsen and Jessica Chastain back in 2013, and also told GQ that he understood the fascination with his love life and said "I hope when there's really something to write about, then I'll be able to talk".
(We'll hold you to that, Tom.)
An eagle-eyed fan spotted that both Tom and Taylor's publicists have just followed each other on Twitter today, suggesting either that this news either took them both totally by surprise, or more likely that they've studiously avoided sharing social network space until now.
So are they or aren't they?
Sorry, we're not psychic.
Laurence Mozafari (he/him) is a multi-award winning journalist, editor, and presenter. A former Editor-in-Chief of Digital Spy, Laurence previously held roles as the site's Editor, Deputy Editor, and Associate Editor focusing on news, social, and video. Laurence hosted the BBC Sounds podcast Obsessed with Peaky Blinders in 2019. He also hosts his own podcast production, Time of My Life, where he interviews fascinating elders about their life lessons, including Only Fools and Horses' Sir David Jason, Star Trek’s George Takei and Bridgerton’s Adjoa Andoh.
Laurence was named Editorial Director – Youth Audience at Reach in early 2025. Prior to joining Digital Spy, he was previously at Bauer Media working as Digital Editor of Heat magazine's website Heatworld.com, and has also worked at and written for Sky, NME, Q magazine, Grazia, Closer, FHM and dedicated careers website GoThinkBig. He secured a first-class BA journalism degree at Staffordshire University, along with several NCTJ qualifications, and now has 14 years' experience in digital publishing covering TV, movies, music, gaming, tech, showbiz, and travel.
Laurence has been a broadcasting contributor on television and radio, including KISS, Heat Radio, BBC Radio London, Radio 5 Live, and BBC Breakfast.
He is also a visiting lecturer at various universities teaching journalism, including City, University of London, Nottingham Trent, Staffordshire University and London Metropolitan. Laurence has won numerous awards in his journalism career, including the BSME Talent Award’s Best Deputy Editor, the PPA's 30 Under 30, and the New Editor and Editor of the Year at the AOP and BSMEs. He led Digital Spy to win PPA's Digital Content Team of the Year twice, along with the British Media Awards’ Brand of the Year in 2021.
Laurence joined the committee for the British Society of Magazine Editors in 2022 and was named vice-chair in 2025. He has since hosted panels with CEOs of Immediate Media and the Media Trust at the PPA Festival, as well as presenting his own radio show on Green Man Radio at Green Man Festival in 2022. Laurence is also a Brits voting academy member.
Laurence has been lucky enough to interview numerous celebrities, actors, and musicians throughout his career. Arnold Schwarzenegger loved his hair, Jimmy Carr loved his coat and Antonio Banderas gave a shout-out to his mum. Laurence has covered set visits for The Witcher on Netflix and Marvel’s Inhumans, he got Daisy Ridley to do a Chewbacca impression and loves Marvel, PlayStation, Glastonbury and craft beer. Linkedin
