Everything is actually going well in the life of the young Irish actor Paul Mescal (27): In 2020 he celebrated his big breakthrough with his leading role in the Hulu/BBC series adaptation of the novel “Normal People” by Sally Rooney (32). As a result, nominations rained down, including at the Primetime Emmy Awards 2020 and for the British Television Awards. He even received an Oscar nomination in 2023 for his role in the film “Aftersun”. His next coup was to land the lead in Ridley Scott’s (85) sequel Gladiator 2, for which he is currently filming in Morocco.

As he revealed in an interview with “Harper’s Bazaar” magazine, he is still not completely satisfied with his life. The reason is that the public is too interested in his private life.

There he said: “If I do TV shows like ‘Normal People’, the whole world will be hungry for it. Eighty percent of it is tasty. But 20 percent of it is devastating.” People’s demands for intimate information make him “simply insane” and also angry again and again. “It’s nobody’s business and should never be commented on because it’s indecent,” he added.

Mescal’s criticism is likely to relate primarily to the way the media deals with his relationship with the American musician Phoebe Bridgers (29), with whom he has been in a relationship for around three years.