A source close to Tom Hiddleston exclusively tells THG that he’s in over his head with his contrived relationship to pop star Taylor Swift.
Moreover, the actor wants to get out ASAP but can’t figure out how, feeling trapped and adrift in a sea of paparazzi and public scrutiny.
As we told you Monday, a friend of the British thespian told us, in no uncertain terms, that what we’ve long assumed to be true actually is:
The Taylor Swift-Tom Hiddleston relationship is fake.
Not just exaggerated for the sake of photographers, or flaunted on social media (though there is plenty of both), but full-on arranged.
“Tom is a very passionate actor, and he genuinely loves performing,” says our source, a friend who communicates with the star regularly.
However, he wanted more … stature, so to speak.
Not because he loves the spotlight. On the contrary, in fact. Merely so “wouldn’t have to do auditions everytime he wanted to be in something.”
Enter Taylor Swift and a run-in earlier this spring …
“After the video of Tom and Taylor dancing together at the MET was released, their respective PR teams decided to collaborate.”
“Tom needed to improve his pulling power, and [her] PR team decided to take advantage of that in a way that would also benefit Taylor.”
“Tom is the ‘it’ man right now, so they thought that it would work. Taylor is an attractive girl with a big bank account and a lot of fame.”
“Tom decided that he would go along with it.”
Makes sense on some level, right? Of course.
But man alive, is he regretting that now.
“He, Taylor, and their respective PR teams thought that everybody would love seeing them in a relationship with each other.”
“However, his actual relationship with Taylor wasn’t as well received by the public as he was hoping it to be,” the friend laments.
Not even after (or perhaps because of) images such as this one, which have been viewed tens of millions of times on social media?!
“He is well aware of what all of the media outlets, his coworkers, his fans, his friends, and even his own family are saying about him.”
“He hates that he has become a joke.”
Well, yeah, but couldn’t he have seen fiasco this coming? Yes and no, the insider tells us, because it’s Taylor who keeps upping the ante.
In that respect, this is all very real and true to form – a smitten, swooning Swift is running the show, and running roughshod over Tom:
“It’s hard for him to prove that to everybody because of how insistent Taylor is that everything that they do with each other is photographed.”
“He has worked very hard [at his] acting career, and he hates being referred to as Taylor’s boyfriend as if his acting career didn’t even exist.”
“She insisted on going to Australia with him, and because of how influential she is with everybody, he didn’t feel like he could say no.”
Having seen the interview he just gave after they landed Down Under, it does seem like he’s cracking a bit under the pressure …
“He wanted to work in peace and quiet,” our source continues. “People think that he’s whoring himself out for fame, and that isn’t true.”
“Taylor being with him has drawn all of the attention towards them. She’s already talking about moving in together, getting married, and having kids.”
“That is incredibly unsettling for him. He wants to settle down one day, but not now whilst he has such a busy schedule.”
Gotta be rough, having Taylor Swift throwing herself at you and talking happily ever after after you’ve been together for about 45 minutes.
In all seriousness, though, why go through with it any longer then? What’s to stop him from just walking away? Well, the friend reveals:
“He is feeling very under pressure, because if he bails after just one month with her, he thinks that it’ll prove everybody right.”
There’s also the legitimate concern, given who she is: “He’s just worried about a break up album and about people saying I told you so.”
“He knows that when they do break up, the media will try to make him look like the bad guy who broke Taylor’s heart.”
“He doesn’t want that, nor does he want to hurt Taylor … he does care about her, but it’s more platonic than it is romantic.”
That being said, Hiddleston can no longer live the “low key” (sorry) life he wishes, and would exclaim “Ole” if he could break free.
“He doesn’t want to spend much more time with Taylor either because she doesn’t give him any breathing space,” the source added.
“Somebody saw them on the beach near Taylor’s home one day before the pictures of them kissing were released.”
“They didn’t recognize him at the time, and Taylor was berating him so much, they thought that he was her new assistant.”
“It embarrassed him, but Taylor is used to public scrutiny, so she doesn’t really understand how much it bothered him.”
“He’s in over his head. He wants out of the relationship, but it’s hard for him to pick the right moment to do that.”
Tom just wants to get back to normal, his friend says, and “forget about the time that he frolicked about in the ocean wearing a bad tee shirt.”
That’s just hilarious, but in fairness to Tom …
… the waterslide photo is even worse:
