This past summer was a wild ride for T. Swift fans. Amid all the Calvin Harris drama and Taylor’s beef with Kanye West, we were treated to her summer fling with Tom Hiddleston, which was just as nuts. Specifically, we’re referring to the time when he rocked a peculiar piece of clothing on the Fourth of July that left us all sorts of confused. Why was he wearing an “I <3 T.S." tank top? And why was it so tight?
Well, it looks like we’re finally getting the answer, Swifties. After months of wondering what exactly went down that afternoon, Tom Hiddleston’s interview with GQ is giving us all the deets. The interviewer takes a moment to go back to that July afternoon, asking about the tank top and all the rumors that surround it.
“The truth is, it was the Fourth of July and a public holiday and we were playing a game and I slipped and hurt my back,” Tom explains. “And I wanted to protect the graze from the sun and said, ‘Does anyone have a T-shirt?'” Apparently, one of Tay’s friends then pulled out the famous “I <3 T.S." tank top. "And we all laughed about it. It was a joke." Seems like an innocent enough explanation, but as it turns out, the jokes and rumors that followed that afternoon—and persisted throughout the relationship—were apparently a bit traumatizing for him.
“I have to be so psychologically strong about not letting other people’s interpretations about my life affect my life. A relationship exists between two people. We will always know what it was. The narratives that are out there altogether have been extrapolated from pictures that were taken without consent or permission, with no context. Nobody had the context for that story. And I’m still trying to work out a way of having a personal life and protecting it, but also without hiding. So the hardest thing is that that was a joke among friends on the Fourth of July.”
Thanks for finally clearing that up, Tom. We were all so curious and promise to be more careful with our interpretations! Stay strong, bud.