More than a year after he and Sabrina Carpenter ended their relationship, Barry Keoghan addresses speculation about what led to the high-profile split.
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While appearing on the Friends Keep Secrets podcast this week, the actor opened up about how infidelity rumors have led to threats against him.
“I feel in a safe space to say this, but I have been avoiding stuff. I came off Instagram and social profiles. I’ve stopped going to events. I’ve stopped just socializing,” he explained. “It’s because there was a narrative out there that was never really sort of even spoken on — a narrative that’s not true — and I never confirmed or said anything about it. And I just disappeared.”
While denying the cheating allegations, Keoghan spoke out against the harassment he has received.
“I’m not asking for people to become my fan and like me because that’s not normal,” he said. “I’m asking for people to stop assuming and also stop jumping on this narrative and attacking me and dragging me down in any way you can.”
The actor also stated, “I’m not saying this for pity. Why is it cool to hop on and beat someone up?”
Keoghan then said that a woman made a video fueling the rumors. Although she later apologized for making the whole thing up, the public had seemingly already formed an opinion about him.
“I didn’t want to come forward and put that girl under and go, ‘Hold on for a second,’” he said. “I don’t know how she deals with it, so I’m aware of all of it.”
Keoghan added, “I don’t want to ever bring anyone else into it, but unfortunately, having a relationship in the public eye … It gets put out there, and it’s amplified.”
The Exes Were First Romantically Linked in Late 2023
Carpenter and Keoghan were first romantically linked after they were spotted having a dinner date in Los Angeles. They made their red carpet debut at the Vanity Fair Oscars afterparty in March 2024.
Keoghan later appeared in the music video for Carpenter’s song “Please, Please, Please,” seemingly confirming things were pretty serious between the two.
However, after nearly a year together, Keoghan and Carpenter suddenly broke up.
A source close to the situation told Us Weekly that the “schedules were not aligning,” causing the “Espresso” hitmaker not to have enough time to “commit to. relationship.”
Not long after the cheating allegations began, Keoghan deleted his Instagram account. He finally spoke out about the situation in December 2025.
“I can only sit and take so much. My name has been dragged across the internet in ways I usually don’t respond to,” he wrote on X. “I have to respond now because it’s getting to a place where too many lines are being crossed. I deactivated my account because I can no longer let this stuff distract me from my family and my work.”
He then added, “Absolute lies, hatred, disgusting commentary about my appearance, character, how I am as a parent, and every other inhumane thing you can imagine, dragging my character and everything I worked extremely hard for and stand for.”