Barry Keoghan says the relentless abuse he endured after being wrongly accused of cheating on ex-girlfriend Sabrina Carpenter turned him into a recluse.
The Irish actor had broken into mainstream cinema with a starring role in director Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn when he embarked on a short-lived relationship with Carpenter in 2023.
But he felt the wrath of Carpenter’s loyal fans after gossip site DeuxMoi intimated he had cheated on her with American TikTok influencer Breckie Hill – an accusation he strenuously denies.
Appearing on Benny Blanco’s Friends Keep Secrets podcast, Keoghan, 33, said the prolonged abuse, much of it centred on his looks, made him reluctant to venture out in public.
He said: ‘I have been avoiding stuff. I’ve stopped socialising. And again, it’s because there was a [cheating] narrative that’s not true.
‘I never confirmed or said anything about it, and, you know, I just disappeared.’
Barry Keoghan says the furious backlash he suffered after ex-girlfriend Sabrina Carpenter accused him of cheating turned him into a recluse
He added: ‘I don’t want to ever bring anyone else into it, but unfortunately having a relationship in the public eye, we all know this, it gets put out there, and it’s amplified.
‘A girl made a video and then the girl actually made [another] video and went, “Sorry for making that up,” but no one seemed to latch on to that video.’
Keoghan was referring to a video made by Hill in which she denied the cheating rumours and admitted to having never met the actor.
Despite closing his own social media platforms, Keoghan still finds himself reading the negative comments about his alleged infidelity.
‘I’m not on Instagram or Twitter or any of that but I still go on and have a little . . . I go on my brother’s account. I can access it that way,’ he said.
‘I do go on and have a look because I’m curious, but there’s a lot of hatred towards me for just looking like this. It’s just crazy. There’s videos on TikTok that literally go, “I hate him.”
‘I went through addiction myself and then sobriety, and to battle all of that, to then want to drag that person down…’
Keoghan’s young life has been blighted by addiction, with the actor’s mother Debbie dying of a heroin overdose when he was 12 years old.
The actor has also struggled with his own issues, notably with alcohol, but says he is now clean and sober after multiple attempts at recovery.
‘I’m clean now,’ he said. ‘But my mum died at 32 from heroin and my dad passed away. But the curiosity of still wanting to do this, for me, was absolutely . . .
‘It took me three attempts at rehab and it was finally Malibu, The Pointe, where there was a sudden switch and it was when I was 32, the same age my mum was. Like, “That’s it, I’m not doing it.”‘
He added: ‘I don’t do anything. I used to try to justify it by going, “Maybe I’ll be off the drink for a while,” but now I like to think I’m allergic to alcohol because my reaction is: Cocaine. That reaction can make me die.’
The Irish actor had broken into mainstream cinema with a starring role in director Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn when he embarked on a short-lived relationship with Carpenter in 2023
The relationship heated up to the point where Keoghan even starred in the music video for her single, Please Please Please (pictured)
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Barry Keoghan finally speaks out on claims he cheated on Sabrina Carpenter with influencer
Keoghan and Carpenter were initially introduced in September 2023. The Espresso singer attended a screening of Saltburn earlier that month, which may have prepared her for their official meeting at the Givenchy runway show during Paris Fashion Week.
The relationship heated up to the point where Keoghan even starred in the music video for her single, Please Please Please.
But there were signs of trouble between the couple when a source told PEOPLE the couple’s relationship was ‘on and off.’
Keoghan was hit with rumours of infidelity, though an insider told Us Weekly he was ‘very devoted to her happiness,’ adding that they were simply ‘at different places in their lives.’
Keoghan felt the wrath of Carpenter’s loyal fans after a blind item on a gossip site intimated he had cheated on her with influencer Breckie Hill (pictured) – an accusation he denies
The source said the relationship became difficult as Carpenter’s career exploded, noting she was being pulled in ‘so many directions’ and had little time to maintain a relationship.
Carpenter’s hit single Manchild is widely believed to have been written about her ex-boyfriend after their break-up.
Keoghan previously had long-term relationships with Shona Guerin from 2017 to 2020, and Alyson Kierans – with whom he raises son Brando, from 2021 to 2023.
