Who is part of Tom Hiddleston's relationship history
Tom Hiddleston is somewhat of an enigma when it comes to his dating life. Yes, we all know he dated Taylor Swift, wore *that* 'I heart TS' tank top and later inspired those lyrics on her Reputation album. And yes, we've all heard the rumours he's now dating Zawe Ashton, who he met while working together on the West End, though the pair have very rarely been spotted together.
But who else is part of Tom Hiddleston's dating history? The actor opened up to GQ in 2017 about the perils of dating as a famous person, commenting, "A relationship in the limelight… A relationship always takes work. A relationship in the limelight takes work. And it’s not just the limelight. It’s everything else."
Susannah Fielding, 2008 - 2011
British actress Susannah, who has starred in Death In Paradise, Catastrophe and most recently This Time With Alan Partridge, and Tom dated for three years. The pair met on
set of the BBC show Wallander in 2008, but eventually decided to split for the sake of their careers.
"Acting just demands everything and if you don't give it everything, there will be someone behind you who will," He told the Daily Mail in 2012.
A later report seemingly quoted Hiddleston as saying, "The fact is we've split up. The relationship ran its course," in an interview in February 2012. "People assumed it was about me getting well-known and leaving her behind. But she is a very talented actress and has lots of projects coming up. It's just I am very driven right now and there isn't really any time to have a proper girlfriend."
Jessica Chastain, 2013
Jessica, from Molly's Game and Interstellar, and Tom were rumoured to be dating in 2013, after an insider told Metro they were getting close. "Tom is taken with Jess and it's serious," the insider spilled. "Before Christmas she visited Britain to stay with him and meet all his family for the first time."
The actress later said she had made a rule of not dating other actors, telling InStyle UK, "I have dated an actor before, at Juilliard, but since then, I've only been on a couple of dates with one and I was so freaked out someone was going to take a picture of us, because they were famous."
Jane Arthy, 2013
The actor was linked to music producer Jane during the Wimbledon tennis 2013 finals, when they were photographed holding hands. Elle UK's editor-in-chief tweeted at the time, "I sat next to actor Tom Hiddleston and his girlfriend Jane #wimbledonfinal. He's a very funny man."
The actor's spokesman responded: "I never comment on my clients' private lives," while Tom himself played the rumours down in a November 2013 profile with GQ. "I understand the curiosity," he said. "One day I hope when there's really something to write home about, then I'll be able to talk."
Elizabeth Olsen, 2015
After meeting on the set of I Saw The Light in 2015, Elizabeth and Tom were linked for two months in the summer of 2015 after being photographed on a number of dates. US Weekly reported at the time that, "It's casual. But they do make sure to text when they're apart."
The dates came months after Elizabeth called off her engagement to actor Boyd Holbrook in January, with the source adding of her romance with Tom, "She wants to make a new life for herself. She's having fun."
By September, though, Olsen denied they were more than mates. "I mean, we definitely are friends and we've known each other for about four years. And we happened to be at a restaurant at a wrong time having dinner," she told Refinery29. "We all go out to dinner."
The pair later worked together in the Avengers: Infinity War film in 2018.
Taylor Swift, 2016
Who could forget the fabulous summer of 2016, which saw a new story about Tom Hiddleston and Taylor Swift released each day? The actor wasn't shy about speaking about their romance at the time, telling The Hollywood Reporter: "Well, um. How best to put this? That notion is — look, the truth is that Taylor Swift and I are together and we're very happy. Thanks for asking. That's the truth. It's not a publicity stunt."
The pair were spotted kissing, leaving restaurants and, er, in that iconic 'I LOVE T.S.' tank top, before news of their split broke in September 2016. In early 2017, Tom opened up about the brief romance to GQ, commenting, "Taylor is an amazing woman. She’s generous and kind and lovely, and we had the best time… Of course it was real."
He also commented on the now infamous tank top, continuing, "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. And I wanted to protect the graze from the sun and said, ’Does anyone have a T-shirt?’ And one of her friends said, 'I’ve got this.'
"And we all laughed about it. It was a joke. Among friends. I just, I was surprised. I was just surprised that it got so much attention. The tank top became an emblem of this thing."
Come November 2017, and Taylor dropped her Reputation album, with certain lyrics alluding to Taylor using Tom to leave Calvin Harris.
The lyrics included: "The ties were black / the lies were white / I wanted to leave him, I needed a reason. But with three of us, honey, it's a side show and a circus ain't a love story and now we're both sorry."
Remember the video footage of Tom and Taylor dancing together at the Met Gala 2016? Well that would explain the "ties were black" bit. And fans believe that 'Getaway Car' could be a metaphor for Tom helping her to escape her relationship with Calvin, which links to the 'I wanted to leave him, I needed a reason'.
Zawe Ashton, 2020
Most recently, Zawe from Fresh Meat and Tom have been romantically connected. The pair worked together on the West End production of Betrayal in London in 2019, and were reportedly living together in Atlanta, Georgia.
An insider told The Sun in July 2020, "Tom and Zawe have stayed quiet about their relationship but she has spent the last few weeks with him in the US."
Apparently, The Night Manager star, 41, and 37-year-old Zawe are "very well suited and enjoy the quieter side of life away from the glitz and glamour of the showbiz world. Their lives are typically very busy, so spending time together while not working has been something they have both embraced. Tom has made a home in Atlanta during lockdown and he is expecting to spend the rest of the year there."
Over a year later in September 2021, the pair confirmed they very much are an item, when Zawe accompanied Tom to the Tony Awards. Tom had been nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play (that's a mouthful) at the annual theatre awards, for his role in Betrayal, but lost out to Andrew Burnap for his performance in The Inheritance.
Since then, they have attended charity galas together and been spotted hand in hand on holiday, cementing their status as a happy couple. So there you go.
You Might Also Like
