Tom Hiddleston

[chelseadagger]

First post here, hi everyone. Do you think Tom and Zawe are endgame? She gave an interview 2 years ago from when everyone said she’d started dating Tom saying this:

‘One word Ashton is thinking about a lot these days is "motherhood." “I would like to have a baby,” she says slowly. "I’ve never said that before, but women never say it." Despite various rumours about her love life, she emphasises that the baby is a goal, not a current reality. "It's not in the works, and it's not being planned," she says. "There's absolutely not one single detail that I can mention, but the next thing on my agenda is building towards that stage, and I feel very proud of that."

do you think they’ll get married and have kids? Is that why he’s being so private or is he just shaken by the drama around Hiddleswift and not wanting to be public with anyone ever, Zawe or otherwise?

 

[Skinnylike]

First post here, hi everyone. Do you think Tom and Zawe are endgame? She gave an interview 2 years ago from when everyone said she’d started dating Tom saying this:

‘One word Ashton is thinking about a lot these days is "motherhood." “I would like to have a baby,” she says slowly. "I’ve never said that before, but women never say it." Despite various rumours about her love life, she emphasises that the baby is a goal, not a current reality. "It's not in the works, and it's not being planned," she says. "There's absolutely not one single detail that I can mention, but the next thing on my agenda is building towards that stage, and I feel very proud of that."

do you think they’ll get married and have kids? Is that why he’s being so private or is he just shaken by the drama around Hiddleswift and not wanting to be public with anyone ever, Zawe or otherwise?

he was never really public before hiddleswift anyway. We don’t know anything about them so it’s not like we can predict really.

 

[chelseadagger]

It seems to be his first long term relationship since Taylor, I think he and Zawe have been dating for over 2 years now so I would imagine it's serious. It sounds like Zawe certainly thinks it's serious because she wants to build towards having children. He's never been papped out being affectionate towards her at all in the 2 years they've been dating and I find that weird.

 

[EastofHollywood]

It seems to be his first long term relationship since Taylor, I think he and Zawe have been dating for over 2 years now so I would imagine it's serious. It sounds like Zawe certainly thinks it's serious because she wants to build towards having children. He's never been papped out being affectionate towards her at all in the 2 years they've been dating and I find that weird.

Ewan McGregor has just had a baby with his girlfriend, so it is possible to keep pregnancy totally secret, even if you are mega famous.

 

[chelseadagger]

Ewan McGregor has just had a baby with his girlfriend, so it is possible to keep pregnancy totally secret, even if you are mega famous.

But arguably Ewan doesn't have the same rabid fans Tom has. Just last week one of his fans figured out where he lived, doxxed him and went there to try and find him and in the past one of them threatened his mother too. I feel like he's overwhelmed by the attention from both the media and fans and if he and Zawe do commit to each other I don't think he'd be in a hurry to make it public. He has said before that he wants to find a way to be private but not hide, but I think things have changed since then and he's realised that he can't have both. You bet if Zawe is seen out and about in London with a bump all hell will break loose.

 

[EastofHollywood]

But arguably Ewan doesn't have the same rabid fans Tom has. Just last week one of his fans figured out where he lived, doxxed him and went there to try and find him and in the past one of them threatened his mother too. I feel like he's overwhelmed by the attention from both the media and fans and if he and Zawe do commit to each other I don't think he'd be in a hurry to make it public. He has said before that he wants to find a way to be private but not hide, but I think things have changed since then and he's realised that he can't have both. You bet if Zawe is seen out and about in London with a bump all hell will break loose.

OMG what is wrong with these people??!

 

[chelseadagger]

OMG what is wrong with these people??!

His fans have always been quite feral, a lot like Benedict Cumberbatch's fans back in the day. But he seems to be able to go around Hampstead with his kids and Sophie and do whatever he wants without being bothered - I think Tom is just really traumatised by what happened with Taylor.

 

[TheSilverFox]

But arguably Ewan doesn't have the same rabid fans Tom has. Just last week one of his fans figured out where he lived, doxxed him and went there to try and find him and in the past one of them threatened his mother too. I feel like he's overwhelmed by the attention from both the media and fans and if he and Zawe do commit to each other I don't think he'd be in a hurry to make it public. He has said before that he wants to find a way to be private but not hide, but I think things have changed since then and he's realised that he can't have both. You bet if Zawe is seen out and about in London with a bump all hell will break loose.

Did you read that somewhere?

 

[chelseadagger]

Did you read that somewhere?

Yeah it was on Twitter. The account in question got reported and another Twitter user contacted Tom's agent Christian Hodell who responded by saying that he would let Tom's publicist Luke Windsor know. If you're referring to where I read the 'be private but not hide' thing, I think it was in that godawful GQ profile piece but I'm not sure. He definitely mentioned finding a balance between being discreet but not hiding.

 

[EastofHollywood]

His fans have always been quite feral, a lot like Benedict Cumberbatch's fans back in the day. But he seems to be able to go around Hampstead with his kids and Sophie and do whatever he wants without being bothered - I think Tom is just really traumatised by what happened with Taylor.

Doesn't BC have a restraining order out against some fans? I don't blame him. Some of them are nuts. If some random stranger applied for my kids birth certificates and put them online, I would go totally nuts!
Also, lots of celebs live around Hampstead so its probably no big deal to the locals, they'd be taking pictures all day, and the press wont pay for pics of BC because they cant print pictures of the kids.

Yeah it was on Twitter. The account in question got reported and another Twitter user contacted Tom's agent Christian Hodell who responded by saying that he would let Tom's publicist Luke Windsor know. If you're referring to where I read the 'be private but not hide' thing, I think it was in that godawful GQ profile piece but I'm not sure. He definitely mentioned finding a balance between being discreet but not hiding.

I think most celebs call the paps or get their friends to talk to the papers to get their relationships revealed, for publicity or just to get their face out there. Many of them rely on followers on social media to get jobs so the more publicity, the more followers, the more jobs. If you don't want or need to do that, then I bet you probably could go about your business and your relationships more or less unharrassed. TH could have a relationship just like most people do, without announcing it to the world, just to his family and friends and no one would know. Its not hiding, it's just not asking your PR or your friends to put the relationship into the press He doesn't owe the fans anything outside his work commitments and common decency not to be rude to them.

 

[2xblended]

His fans have always been quite feral, a lot like Benedict Cumberbatch's fans back in the day. But he seems to be able to go around Hampstead with his kids and Sophie and do whatever he wants without being bothered - I think Tom is just really traumatised by what happened with Taylor.

I was saying earlier on another thread how shocking it was to read about BC's fans and all the nasty stuff they were doing. I hadn't heard of any of this previously and it really was frightening to think of the lengths they would go to (including saying his wife/kids are PR stunts and literally stalking him). I would never want to be famous when you have loons who can live tweet your movements and doxx you. Terrifying. I was unaware that Tom's fans were the same way because I have always heard the MCU fans were really respectful, albeit really serious about the movies and comic con. I didn't know they were feral. Sheesh.

I have to ask a stupid question because I see it all over the thread but I don't quite get this- what was the issue with Tom and Taylor. Google tells me they dated briefly, but everyone here talks about it being the thing that stalled his career/was traumatic. What's the big deal with them having dated and why has it traumatized him?

 

[EastofHollywood]

I was saying earlier on another thread how shocking it was to read about BC's fans and all the nasty stuff they were doing. I hadn't heard of any of this previously and it really was frightening to think of the lengths they would go to (including saying his wife/kids are PR stunts and literally stalking him). I would never want to be famous when you have loons who can live tweet your movements and doxx you. Terrifying. I was unaware that Tom's fans were the same way because I have always heard the MCU fans were really respectful, albeit really serious about the movies and comic con. I didn't know they were feral. Sheesh.

I have to ask a stupid question because I see it all over the thread but I don't quite get this- what was the issue with Tom and Taylor. Google tells me they dated briefly, but everyone here talks about it being the thing that stalled his career/was traumatic. What's the big deal with them having dated and why has it traumatized him?

I dont think its MCU fans, who let's face it, are sci fi/fantasy nerds (as I am ), but your common or garden fangirl types who do the stalking.
The Tom and Taylor thing is because it looked so obviously set up, with weird pap photos and frolicking round in the sea. Everyone laughed at him and he then disappeared. I cant see how it stalled his career. He seems to be doing OK to me.I think some of his fans think he should be bigger but maybe he doesnt want to be bigger. If he did, hed surely do the fake romance/ instagram pr thing much more.

 

[chelseadagger]

I was saying earlier on another thread how shocking it was to read about BC's fans and all the nasty stuff they were doing. I hadn't heard of any of this previously and it really was frightening to think of the lengths they would go to (including saying his wife/kids are PR stunts and literally stalking him). I would never want to be famous when you have loons who can live tweet your movements and doxx you. Terrifying. I was unaware that Tom's fans were the same way because I have always heard the MCU fans were really respectful, albeit really serious about the movies and comic con. I didn't know they were feral. Sheesh.

I have to ask a stupid question because I see it all over the thread but I don't quite get this- what was the issue with Tom and Taylor. Google tells me they dated briefly, but everyone here talks about it being the thing that stalled his career/was traumatic. What's the big deal with them having dated and why has it traumatized him?

I think it was just cringey/embarrassing. He was a serious Shakespearean actor who wanted to do drama (as well as Loki) and all of a sudden he was in a relationship with someone like Taylor who everyone thought writes songs for teenagers and it just didn't match his serious image. They were far too public with their publicity stunt, the pictures were so staged and he even got his mother, sister and niece involved in it, he invited paps to all corners of the world to take pictures of him and Taylor being affectionate in strategically romantic locations. Then there was the I heart TS t shirt debacle and that awkward picture of Ryan & Blake and him and Taylor being weirdly affectionate, it was all just a total onslaught of 'romance' and it felt out of place. Everyone poked fun at him for it and he dropped off the radar for a year to deal with the fallout, he said he was taking a year out to focus on himself. Taylor was dating her current boyfriend Joe Alwyn while she was with (or doing a publicity stunt with, if you want to see it that way) Tom and she ended up writing a song about him.

The insane attention Tom got during that time, most of it negative, I feel like it traumatised him and resulted in him having a very negative view of the media. Now he never answers personal questions in interviews and his publicist tells journalists they can't ask him about Taylor since 5 year later that's still the topic everyone wants to ask him about. It damaged his reputation as a serious actor and I think it's just another example of a showmance gone wrong. The GQ profile piece also didn't help, it was meant to be damage limitation/reinvention or just to explain his side of the story but it made him look desperate and insecure. The journalist seemed to think he was weird and clingy/needy, he kept her until late babbling and trying to explain himself and then the next day, early in the morning, went to her hotel room (house?) to explain himself all over again and make sure she understood what he'd said. Some of his fans have speculated that he suffers from depression or low mood sometimes and the Hiddleswift situation exacerbated that. His publicist and management clearly thought that he was toxic after the debacle and wanted him to lie low for a while, I think he also wanted to do that too.

I dont think its MCU fans, who let's face it, are sci fi/fantasy nerds (as I am ), but your common or garden fangirl types who do the stalking.
The Tom and Taylor thing is because it looked so obviously set up, with weird pap photos and frolicking round in the sea. Everyone laughed at him and he then disappeared. I cant see how it stalled his career. He seems to be doing OK to me.I think some of his fans think he should be bigger but maybe he doesnt want to be bigger. If he did, hed surely do the fake romance/ instagram pr thing much more.

I think he's doing the kinds of jobs he wants to do. I'm looking forward to The Essex Serpent since I loved the book but it's a shame White Stork has been shelved. I thought a politician role would be perfect for him and would be a return to gritty drama after Loki. He doesn't touch his Instagram and I think he's scared off PR relationships for life after Taylor.

And I should also mention that the journalist who did the aforementioned GQ profile piece was photographed by paps giving him a goodbye hug outside his house and referred to as a 'mystery girl.' She was married and Tom had to call her up to apologise and hoped her husband wasn't offended by it.

 

[Kouignamann]

I think it was just cringey/embarrassing. He was a serious Shakespearean actor who wanted to do drama (as well as Loki) and all of a sudden he was in a relationship with someone like Taylor who everyone thought writes songs for teenagers and it just didn't match his serious image. They were far too public with their publicity stunt, the pictures were so staged and he even got his mother, sister and niece involved in it, he invited paps to all corners of the world to take pictures of him and Taylor being affectionate in strategically romantic locations. Then there was the I heart TS t shirt debacle and that awkward picture of Ryan & Blake and him and Taylor being weirdly affectionate, it was all just a total onslaught of 'romance' and it felt out of place. Everyone poked fun at him for it and he dropped off the radar for a year to deal with the fallout, he said he was taking a year out to focus on himself. Taylor was dating her current boyfriend Joe Alwyn while she was with (or doing a publicity stunt with, if you want to see it that way) Tom and she ended up writing a song about him.

The insane attention Tom got during that time, most of it negative, I feel like it traumatised him and resulted in him having a very negative view of the media. Now he never answers personal questions in interviews and his publicist tells journalists they can't ask him about Taylor since 5 year later that's still the topic everyone wants to ask him about. It damaged his reputation as a serious actor and I think it's just another example of a showmance gone wrong. The GQ profile piece also didn't help, it was meant to be damage limitation/reinvention or just to explain his side of the story but it made him look desperate and insecure. The journalist seemed to think he was weird and clingy/needy, he kept her until late babbling and trying to explain himself and then the next day, early in the morning, went to her hotel room (house?) to explain himself all over again and make sure she understood what he'd said. Some of his fans have speculated that he suffers from depression or low mood sometimes and the Hiddleswift situation exacerbated that. His publicist and management clearly thought that he was toxic after the debacle and wanted him to lie low for a while, I think he also wanted to do that too.



I think he's doing the kinds of jobs he wants to do. I'm looking forward to The Essex Serpent since I loved the book but it's a shame White Stork has been shelved. I thought a politician role would be perfect for him and would be a return to gritty drama after Loki. He doesn't touch his Instagram and I think he's scared off PR relationships for life after Taylor.

And I should also mention that the journalist who did the aforementioned GQ profile piece was photographed by paps giving him a goodbye hug outside his house and referred to as a 'mystery girl.' She was married and Tom had to call her up to apologise and hoped her husband wasn't offended by it.

That’s a really strange life they have, these famous people. I wonder how much drama schools can prepare them for this side of the business.
I couldn't agree more about the politician role, it would be nice to see him in a "modern" role. I've never had the opportunity to watch the night manager, but I enjoyed high rise ; it would be nice to see more of that.

 

[TheSilverFox]

That’s a really strange life they have, these famous people. I wonder how much drama schools can prepare them for this side of the business.
I couldn't agree more about the politician role, it would be nice to see him in a "modern" role. I've never had the opportunity to watch the night manager, but I enjoyed high rise ; it would be nice to see more of that.

The Night Manager is good, you should watch it! I don't think drama schools prepare them at all. I know quite a few people who went to drama school and the vast, vast majority don't get anywhere near being famous.

I think he'd have been better off admitting Taylor was a PR stunt rather than pretending it was real.

Also just realised the GQ cringe piece was originally titled 'We T.S.' - bet he loved that!!!

 

[EastofHollywood]

The Night Manager is good, you should watch it! I don't think drama schools prepare them at all. I know quite a few people who went to drama school and the vast, vast majority don't get anywhere near being famous.

I think he'd have been better off admitting Taylor was a PR stunt rather than pretending it was real.

Also just realised the GQ cringe piece was originally titled 'We T.S.' - bet he loved that!!!

The night manager was good. But to be fair, so is Loki. Hes the star, he gets to show depth of character, he does serious and funny and some action.Im not sure what's not to like. As you say, the vast majority of actors are unemployed most of the time, and when they are working are nowhere near being famous, they just make a living. I went off Christopher Eccleston a bit after he started moaning about doing Thor 2. What a tragedy that he was forced into a multi million $ deal with Marvel! ( I know there were issues with both him mental health wise, Doctor Who and the Thor 2 set but at the time it just sounded like he was saying he was forced to do a superhero film to scrape a living) I much prefer the Michael Caine attitude of 'the film was crap but the house it bought me is fabulous!' Sounds like Tom has a good balance. His fans want to see him do more stuff and do more interviews but he has a right to keep his life private as much as he wants.

 

[2xblended]

@EastofHollywood and @chelseadagger Thank you both for your brilliant answers to my question! So much insight into a world I'm only just starting to understand. Much appreciated!

 

[chelseadagger]

The night manager was good. But to be fair, so is Loki. Hes the star, he gets to show depth of character, he does serious and funny and some action.Im not sure what's not to like. As you say, the vast majority of actors are unemployed most of the time, and when they are working are nowhere near being famous, they just make a living. I went off Christopher Eccleston a bit after he started moaning about doing Thor 2. What a tragedy that he was forced into a multi million $ deal with Marvel! ( I know there were issues with both him mental health wise, Doctor Who and the Thor 2 set but at the time it just sounded like he was saying he was forced to do a superhero film to scrape a living) I much prefer the Michael Caine attitude of 'the film was crap but the house it bought me is fabulous!' Sounds like Tom has a good balance. His fans want to see him do more stuff and do more interviews but he has a right to keep his life private as much as he wants.

I think Tom was also spurred on by Kenneth Branagh, he's a respected Shakespearean actor in his own right and I think he showed Tom that you can do big budget Marvel films and also be taken seriously as an actor while doing other drama. It also helped that the Avengers films were well loved unlike what happened with Jamie Dornan, a case in point of a guy who was a great actor but ruined his career by taking on an awful franchise no one liked. You're right in that these big budget films pay the bills and there's no shame in doing it, especially since Tom does seem very enthusiastic about Loki so he's not just doing it for the money. However I do think he enjoys doing serious drama and Shakespeare more than Marvel, in one award acceptance speech he said it was an honour to get Hulk smashed but he would always love doing Shakespeare more or words to that effect.

I've seen fans complaining that there's not enough promo done for Loki but all I see is Tom doing so many interviews with Vanity Fair and Buzzfeed and so many other outlets, he seems to be on a never ending promo tour albeit virtual and I think it's exhausting him a little so I don't know how many more interviews his fans want. I think they want more and more because he never says anything about his private life in the interviews anymore and they're hungry to hear about that.

That’s a really strange life they have, these famous people. I wonder how much drama schools can prepare them for this side of the business.
I couldn't agree more about the politician role, it would be nice to see him in a "modern" role. I've never had the opportunity to watch the night manager, but I enjoyed high rise ; it would be nice to see more of that.

The majority of people who go to drama school don't get anywhere near the heights of the most famous success stories like Tom, Benedict, Eddie Redmayne, Ralph Fiennes etc even in the prestigious drama schools like RADA. I remember Josh O'Connor saying once that out of his whole year at the Old Vic, only a small handful of people have made it anywhere and they don't tell you that when you apply.

I thought High Rise was so good and he was obviously very proud of it, I think it was such a great piece of abstract art and aligned with his left wing views too. I know The Essex Serpent has literally just wrapped so maybe White Stork is next for him if they actually get it rolling. Although I feel like he might take a break until the end of the year and then head back to Atlanta to film the next season of Loki.

 

[EastofHollywood]

I've seen fans complaining that there's not enough promo done for Loki but all I see is Tom doing so many interviews with Vanity Fair and Buzzfeed and so many other outlets, he seems to be on a never ending promo tour albeit virtual and I think it's exhausting him a little so I don't know how many more interviews his fans want. I think they want more and more because he never says anything about his private life in the interviews anymore and they're hungry to hear about that.

He was on radio 2 talking about it as well, and he sounded really enthusiastic. He thanked the fans for campaigning to have Loki brought back from the dead!
I think fans expect all celebs to serve their lives up to them, because so many of them do it. Especially reality TV stars and the like. You know so much about them, its almost as if there's something wrong when someone just says 'No, I'm not going to talk about my private life'. Its the ones with little else to sell apart from their private lives, who want to be famous for being famous rather than fame being incidental to their actual job who are putting as much as they can out there by talking endlessly about their private lives or leaking stories to the press.
The ones who just are happy to do the core work and interviews about their work are the ones in the main with the talent and confidence to sustain real long term careers and don't feel the need to desperately court fame all the time.
Also, Jamie Dornan! Why??!!

 

[chelseadagger]

He was on radio 2 talking about it as well, and he sounded really enthusiastic. He thanked the fans for campaigning to have Loki brought back from the dead!
I think fans expect all celebs to serve their lives up to them, because so many of them do it. Especially reality TV stars and the like. You know so much about them, its almost as if there's something wrong when someone just says 'No, I'm not going to talk about my private life'. Its the ones with little else to sell apart from their private lives, who want to be famous for being famous rather than fame being incidental to their actual job who are putting as much as they can out there by talking endlessly about their private lives or leaking stories to the press.
The ones who just are happy to do the core work and interviews about their work are the ones in the main with the talent and confidence to sustain real long term careers and don't feel the need to desperately court fame all the time.
Also, Jamie Dornan! Why??!!

I feel so sad for Jamie Dornan, I loved him in The Fall and he should be getting so much better work. I can't name one thing he's done of note since Fifty Shades, it's clear how much he hated it and his discomfort every time he promoted it with Dakota Johnson.

In this press tour Tom's done GQ, Radio 1, Radio 2, Buzzfeed, Vanity Fair, Jimmy Kimmel, MTV, Collider, Variety, Good Morning America and countless other geek-related podcast/interview things. Owen Wilson and Gugu Mbatha-Raw have also been promoting the show but not like he has so I don't understand the audacity of his fans to accuse Marvel of somehow glossing over Loki. I feel like whatever he does, it's not enough for them. I think he regretted talking about his house in Hampstead in previous interviews and he's refrained from giving out those personal details, not just about his love life but about anything. Still people scrutinise literally everything which is how they figured out he and Zawe had the same wall behind them in interviews and how she hung the Archipelago picture behind her to intentionally send a message that she was living with and dating Tom. It's all just such a crazy business.

Social media has also given people far more expectation from celebrities than before. Even celebs who are known for acting/singing share more of their lives on social media now so people expect that from others too and the ones who don't want to do it are branded uncooperative or just have to run the risk of not having that much of a public profile as their more online counterparts. They don't seem to get it when actors say that their work should speak for itself and knowing too much about an actor's private life can interfere with how you perceive their work, as well as the fact that the two have entirely no relation at all. You don't need to know about an actor's private life to enjoy his performance. But I think that there's recently been an increase in people wanting to know more private things about their idols and celebs than before because they want to know if their socio-political views align with them, whether they've done or believe things that are abhorrent and then the fans can make a choice about whether they want to give them their coin. Celebs run the risk of being branded problematic (rightly so in many cases) if they make too many comments about their private life and beliefs and if they don't talk about them then people feel like they have something to hide.

I respect Tom for being a bit more closed off now and not letting much slip, I feel like he'll be happier in his personal life that way. Before he would get annoyed and when his fans said 'I love you' and 'you're perfect' at the stage door when he was doing Coriolanus he responded with 'no, you don't, you don't even know me' and 'I'm not, you don't know me' and was clearly 'upset' by their behaviour. I'm glad he's not engaging with people on that level anymore and that he's just trying to stay out of it and not get so stressed by it.