“I beg you, don’t embarrass me,” Sabrina Carpenter crooned to fans, but, in hindsight, perhaps also to her then-partner, Barry Keoghan. The Oscar-nominated actor even appeared in the song’s music video, adding a knowingly meta touch.
But alas, things didn’t quite play out that way. The pair split in December 2024 after a year of dating, and the fallout was swift. Fans were outraged, particularly when rumours of infidelity on the Irish actor’s part began to circulate.
In their attempts to “defend” the pop star, some took to social media to attack Keoghan, targeting everything from his appearance to his acting ability. It echoed previous fan pile-ons, from Taylor Swift fans flooding Jake Gyllenhaal’s Instagram with scarf emojis after the release of Red (Taylor’s Version), to Olivia Rodrigo fans rallying against Joshua Bassett following Drivers License.
Keoghan became the latest target of this kind of online vitriol and, by his own account, it took a toll.
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Barry Keoghan discusses the online abuse
Speaking to SiriusXM host Ben Harlum, the actor revealed that although he stepped back from social media in 2024 due to the abuse, its impact has lingered. He admitted it has left him “shying away” from the public eye.
Asked about his fans, Keoghan acknowledged that “people are so lovely out there”, but added: “There’s also a nasty side of it. And I’ve removed myself from online, but I’m still a curious human being that wants to go on. And if I attend an event or if I go somewhere, you want to see how it was received. And it’s not nice, you know?”
“There’s a lot of hate online," he continued. “There’s a lot of abuse of how I look, and it’s kind of past the point of, ‘Everyone goes through that.’ And everyone does, but it’s made me shy away. It’s made me really go inside myself, not want to attend places, not want to go outside. And I say this being absolute pure and honest to you – it’s becoming a problem.”
Keoghan spoke about “hiding away” as a result of the abuse. “I actually don’t go to places because of these things,” he explained. “But when that starts leaking into your art, it becomes a problem, because then you don’t want to even be on screen any more.”
Following his 2024 breakup with Carpenter, he accused some individuals of knocking on his grandmother’s door and “sitting outside my baby boy’s house, intimidating them.”
Keoghan acknowledged that stepping back from acting would disappoint his fans, but, referring to his three-year-old son Brando, added: “It’s also disappointing that my little boy will have to read all of this when he gets older.”
This isn’t the first time Keoghan has faced intense media scrutiny. After his role — including nude scenes — in Saltburn, attention uncomfortably turned to Keoghan’s body. Even actors and musicians unconnected to the project found themselves dragged into interviews: Andrew Scott was asked about the scene despite having no involvement in the film, and Sophie Ellis-Bextor was quizzed simply because her song featured in it.
The obsession with the Saltburn star has gone too far.
It’s a stark reminder of how, for some reason, we feel entitled to every detail of Keoghan’s life, from his body to his relationship status.
For now, he hasn’t stepped away from acting. He most recently appeared in Netflix’s Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man and is rumoured to be returning as the Joker in Batman II, following a brief cameo in the first film.
What do we owe celebrities?
The theme of celebrity privacy has only grown in prominence in recent years. One notable voice on the topic is Chappell Roan, who has openly discussed the feeling of being hounded by the press. Most recently, she faced criticism from Jorginho after his wife, Catherine Harding, and stepdaughter were reportedly berated by Roan’s security for looking in her direction.
Roan denies sending her security guard to reprimand Jorginho's 11-year-old step-daughter.
It raises a tricky question: what, if anything, do celebrities owe us? Or perhaps more importantly, what do we owe them?
My personal rule of thumb, as someone who writes about entertainment and occasionally interviews stars like Jennifer Garner, is to only approach them during work hours. When I ran into Charli XCX on the street, I didn’t say a word so she could pass by peacefully. When I saw Louisa Harland outside the screening of her new series, The Walsh Sisters, I felt it was appropriate to stop and compliment her performance.
If we don’t want to be bothered outside our own office hours, maybe we should extend the same courtesy. And as for messaging someone because they allegedly broke the heart of an adorable pop star? That’s probably… unnecessary.
Look, I’m a Swiftie through and through, and sure, some of her exes haven’t impressed me. But I’ll listen to the songs she wrote about them, shriek out the lyrics during karaoke, and apply them to my own exes. I won’t bother reaching out to anyone on social media, because, honestly, why would I? Keep it nice, or at least confined to a three-person group chat with a funny name, if you ask me.
