Paul Mescal breaks silence on ‘one night stand’ that ‘devastated’ him after upsetting his mom

Gladiator II star  Paul Mescal has opened up about a viral rumour that left him feeling “devastated,” particularly because of how it affected his mother.

The rumour, which took off on TikTok last winter, claimed Mescal had a strange habit after one-night stands: supposedly taking his dates for a walk in the park the next day and then quickly disappearing.

In a recent conversation with GQ, while promoting Gladiator II Mescal recounted how he first learned about the rumours while spending Christmas with his family.

He described how he and his siblings watched the TikTok clips and couldn’t stop laughing at the ridiculous claims. 

Mescal said, “We [Mescal and his siblings] were looking at the videos, and we were p****** ourselves at them.”

“Categorically untrue.”

“And we were laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing.”

He added: “It’s hilarious. If it was true, it’d be f**king bad, but as a rumour, it’s funny.”

But one person who wasn’t laughing was his mom.

Mescal shared how hard it was to see her upset.

He added, “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.”

“I was like, ‘Oh, it’s funny to us my brother, me, my sister’ because we know that this is the way the internet works.”

He also added, “Then I was like, oh, if you’re a mother, her impulse is to come out and be like, ‘He wouldn’t do this.'”

Mescal also talked about his frustration with ongoing speculation about his personal life. He said he’s created “impenetrable” boundaries to protect his privacy.

“My private life means a lot to me because I have so little of it,” he explained. While he gets that people are curious, he doesn’t believe he has to share everything.

Despite the difficulties of being in the spotlight, Mescal remains focused on his acting career. 

He is next set to star alongside Hollywood heavyweights like Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal in Gladiator II.