Jake Gyllenhaal dismisses Taylor Swift’s song ‘All Too Well’ is about him, attacks trolls

When singer-songwriter Taylor Swift re-recorded and released her studio album Red (Taylor’s version) in 2021, there was a lot of frenzy surrounding the extended version of the song All Too Well. It was long believed that the track is about her failed romance with Hollywood star Jake Gyllenhaal. They reportedly dated for a few months back in 2010 before breaking up and fans of Swift, called Swifties, believed that All Too Well was the singer’s way of getting over her feelings. What followed the release of the latest version of the song was heavy social media trolling of Gyllenhaal, which led to him turning off the comments section of his Instagram account. 

Even though neither Swift nor Gyllenhaal ever addressed their break-up in public, the Nightcrawler star recently spoke about what he thought of the song. He dismissed the possibility that All Too Well was about him and in turn took a dig at trolls, who are mostly fans of Swift.

He told Esquire, “It has nothing to do with me. It’s about her relationship with her fans. It is her expression. Artists tap into personal experiences for inspiration, and I don’t begrudge anyone that.”

About the trolling that followed which forced him to turn off his Instagram comments, he added, “At some point, I think it’s important when supporters get unruly that we feel a responsibility to have them be civil and not allow for cyberbullying in one’s name. That begs for a deeper philosophical question. Not about any individual, per se, but a conversation that allows us to examine how we can — or should, even — take responsibility for what we put into the world, our contributions into the world.” Gyllenhaal also said that he did not listen to the track re-recorded by Swift.

Swift reportedly dated Gyllenhaal for about three months in 2010 after breaking up with John Mayer. Swift and Gyllenhaal had an age difference of eight years. The pair reportedly met through Gwyneth Paltrow, who set the two up at a dinner she held before they confirmed their relationship publicly. They weren’t comfortable with the publicity their relationship was getting and parted ways, much to the disappointment of the fans.