He added: “If it was true, it’d be f—ing bad, but as a rumour, it’s funny. Then I was like, oh, if you’re a mother, her impulse is to come out and be like: ‘He wouldn’t do this.’ ”
The TikTok users alleged that the star of the forthcoming Ridley Scott film Gladiator II would pick up women in bars at night and then sprint away from them while on walks the next morning. The rumours became rife on social media and spawned subsequent memes about the actor.
Speaking to GQ, Mescal said that has learned to draw “certain lines in the sand now” about his personal life “that are just going to be impenetrable for the benefit of my own sanity”.
He said: “I mean, the speculation has been kind of mad for the last X amount of years… I’m not comfortable inviting any access into that part of my life.
“How I am in my private life is so precious to me because I get very little of it, and it might be public interest, but it’s not public-obligated information.”
Beatles biopic
The Oscar-nominated actor also said that he would “love to be involved” in the upcoming Sam Mendes biopics about The Beatles, in which he was rumoured to be playing Paul McCartney. Mescal insisted that there was “nothing set in stone” yet.
Discussing his upcoming blockbuster, Gladiator II, the star said it was unlike anything he had ever done.