If you've happened to open any social media app over the last year, you will have become very familiar with the name Paul Mescal.

For those of you who aren't in the loop, Mescal is the Irish actor who made his debut in the miniseries Normal People. Since then, he's had leading roles in Aftersun, The Lost Daughter, and the upcoming Gladiator film.

Essentially, he's cultivated a pretty impressive resume since 2020 and built a career that has earned him a BAFTA TV Award and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

But in late December 2023, a rumour began circulating about Mescal, 28 — one that slightly unravelled his respectable, professional and kind reputation.

Nearly a year later, he has finally addressed it.

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What were they saying about Paul Mescal?

According to unofficial sources, the actor has a habit of sleeping with women he meets at pubs. But that's not all. These "sources" also claimed that the following morning, he then asks them to go for a walk with him in the park and then... runs away.

Let me repeat myself, so you don't miss that.

They say HE RUNS AWAY.

HE. RUNS. AWAY.

Clips began circulating on TikTok of 'blind items' (a story where the details are shared without the identities being named, only hinted to) claiming Mescal developed the habit while living in London.

One of the first to talk about this internet rumour was Erin Mary Smith.

"Paul Mescal basically goes around North London — and this is from lots of sources — begging women for threesomes and when he does actually get with a girl, he'll say to them, 'Hey, wanna go for a walk?'," she said in a now-viral video.

"And then in the middle of the chat, he will just leg it and just do a runner and leave her in the park."

She added that Mescal is also maybe (most definitely) still hung up over his ex, singer Phoebe Bridgers. The pair were rumoured to be engaged before their split, and Bridgers was soon spotted with another man, Bo Burnham.

"On top of this, he also liked to violently cry about Phoebe any single time he gets a big p*ssed or s**tfaced in the pub," she said.

The rumours quickly became a part of internet folklore, with multiple creators jumping on to talk about Paul, his tiny running shorts and penchant for dashing on dates.

@erinmarysmith #paulmescal #gossip #rumour #irishcelebs #celebrity #phoebebridgers ♬ original sound - Erin Mary Smith

The memes, of course, have been off the chart.

paul mescal after taking a girl to a park pic.twitter.com/FalRRe7h93

— a (@irishcillian) December 24, 2023

i relate to paul mescal because i also want to run away from most people i’ve hooked up with

— carl marks (@whoreby_parker) December 25, 2023

me alone in the park cause my unfit ass couldn’t keep up with paul mescal pic.twitter.com/nZRIkiRvdF

— alice (@germystrong) December 25, 2023

Until now, we have never been sure if the rumours are actually true. However, Mescal does have a history of lying to get out of a bad date.

In February 2023, the actor confessed to lying to a girl on a first meeting so he'd have a good excuse to exit gracefully.

"We were walking along some lovely canal in Amsterdam and it should have been very romantic, but it wasn't," he recalled when speaking to British Vogue.

"There was a lot of silence and the only way for me in my head was to fake a phone call and pretend that my friend was in hospital. I got off the phone and I thought I'd given my greatest performance.

"The first question she asks me was, 'Were you acting?' Eventually, I got her to believe me... I doubled down, I was like, 'Why would I joke about that? My friend is in hospital'... I'm a bad person."

It seemed unlikely that he would ever confirm if his Irish exit strategy is actually real, but now, he finally has.

Paul Mescal addresses the rumours that he runs away from his dates.

During a press interview for his upcoming film Gladiator, Mescal gave an interview with GQ where he was literally walking along Regent's Canal in London (a place he is known to frequent for his outdoor runs).

While Mescal has no public social media, it was clear that he was aware of the rumours that he dashes away from his dates.

"Ohhh! F**cking hell," he said laughing when the topic was brought up, clearly aware that it had become many fans' favourite funny detail on the internet.

"We were looking at the videos and we were pissing ourselves at it. Categorically untrue. And we were laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing," he says of when he first heard the rumour, during the Christmas holidays while hanging out with his siblings.

"And the one thing that upset me was that I was in the kitchen, I remember my mum looking at the videos and she was getting upset. 'Isn't that devastating?'"

However Mescal, with his signature sense of dry humour, was in on the internet's joke.

"Oh, it's funny to us—my brother, me, my sister—because we know that this is the way the internet works. It's hilarious. If it was true, it'd be fucking bad, but as a rumor, it's funny. Then I was like, Oh, if you're a mother, her impulse is to come out and be like, 'He wouldn't do this.' "

The interviewer goes on to say that while they laughed about it, it was clear Mescal had an edge of nervousness that the topic had come up, and that his response could further fan the flames that he is a date dasher.

But later on, in a bar lined with bookshelves he picked up a copy of London's Hidden Walks.

"Three volumes," he said. Charmingly adding, "I should take these for my running-away dates."

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why we love this man.

This article was published on December 27, 2023 and has since been updated with new information.

Feature Image: Getty.