The 1975 frontman Matty Healy is rumoured to be Taylor Swift’s new boyfriend.
The Love Story singer, 33, recently split with Joe Alwyn, the British actor and star of Sally Rooney adaptation, Conversations With Friends.
But rumours are now stirring of a potential new romance with another English suitor.
And a photo posted by actress Denise Welch, with Swift by her side, has got fans wondering if the new relationship has been secretly under way for a while.
The 1975
Matthew Healy, better known as “Matty”, is an English singer, songwriter and musician.
He’s best known for being the frontman of the pop rock group The 1975 – which first formed in 2002.
The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Healy, lead guitarist Adam Hann, bassist Ross MacDonald and drummer George Daniel.
Image: George Daniel, Matty Healy, Adam Hann and Ross MacDonald of the band The 1975 . Pic: AP
The band members first met in secondary school, where they performed together as teenagers.
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In 2013, the band released their self-titled debut album, The 1975, which reached number one in the UK charts and included popular singles Sex, Chocolate, and Robbers.
The band’s second album – called I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It – also reached number one in the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The 1975 remain together to this day and in November last year, the band performed in a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden, a show that critics called “bold and bonkers.”
Denise Welch and Tim Healy’s son
Image: Denise Welch and Tim Healy in 2008. Pic: PA
Healy, who is now 34 years old, was born on 8 April 1989 in Hendon, London.
His mother Denise Welch is a presenter and actress known for her roles in Coronation Street, Waterloo Road and Hollyoaks.
She is also a panellist on the ITV daytime talk show, Loose Women.
Tim Healy, his father, is a British actor best known for playing Dennis Patterson in the comedy-drama series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.
Welch met Tim Healy while they were working together for Newcastle’s Live Theatre Company.
The couple wed in 1988 and now have two children, Louis and Matthew.
The couple later divorced in 2012.
Taylor Swift’s boyfriends
Image: Pic: AP
Taylor Swift’s heartbreak anthems produce melodies many fans can’t get enough of.
The You Belong With Me singer has smashed music chart records many times, while bagging lots of awards along the way.
Perhaps because so much of her music is inspired by relationships and breakups, her love life has never failed to make headlines.
The Sun claims Matty Healy and Swift will soon “go public with their romance”.
Some fans had thought Swift had found her long-term partner in Alwyn.
But news of their breakup emerged earlier this year.
The widely reported list of Swift’s past loves includes:
• Joe Jonas (2008) • Lucas Till (2009) • Taylor Lautner (2009) • John Mayer (2009) • Cory Monteith (2010) • Jake Gyllenhaal (2010 – 2011) • Adam Young (2011) • Chord Overstreet (2011) • Eddie Redmayne (2011 – 2012) • Zac Efron (2012) • Connor Kennedy (2012) • Harry Styles (2012 – 2013) • Calvin Harris (2015 – 2016) • Tom Hiddleston (2016) • Joe Alwyn (2017 – 2023)
The rock vocalist also has a past that many fans are keen to know about.
Healy was previously rumoured to have dated household names including FKA twigs and Halsey.
FKA twigs
Rumours first began to crop up in 2020 that the two were dating for a while but they ended their relationship in 2022.
Gabriella Brooks
From 2015 to 2019, Healy was reportedly dating model Gabriella Brooks.
Halsey
According to The Tab, The 1975 frontman was also rumoured to have been dating Halsey in 2015.
She reportedly showed up at his concerts while he was on stage, but the dating rumours were never confirmed.
Aliana Lohan
Going back to 2014, Healy was said to be secretly dating American singer and Lindsay Lohan’s sister Aliana Lohan.
Again, nothing was confirmed.
Healy is also known to enjoy the attention of female fans at The 1975’s gigs. He is often seen interacting with fans during performances.
Apparently, Matty Healy and Taylor Swift also previously dated years ago – more on that below.
Are Taylor Swift and Matty Healy really dating?
Image: Taylor Swift and Denise Welch pictured backstage at The 1975’s gig. Pic: @denise_welch
Some fans think Healy’s famous mum dropped a clue about Matty and Taylor’s rumoured romance earlier this year.
In an image, posted on Instagram by Welch, Swift is seen with her arm around the Loose Women star.
The photograph made headlines at the time and is now being reanalysed by the US star’s fans amid the speculation.
If one report is right, the rumours might soon be confirmed, too.
The Sun newspaper quoted a source close to Swift, who reportedly said: “She and Matty are madly in love. It’s super-early days, but it feels right. They first dated, very briefly, almost 10 years ago but timings just didn’t work out.
“Taylor and Joe actually split up back in February, so there was absolutely no crossover.”
The Sun also reports the couple will announce their relationship in Nashville, where Swift is due to perform this weekend.
Swift made an appearance on stage at The 1975 gig in January, giving a live debut of her hit single Anti-Hero.
“Oh what a night at a sold out O2,” said Welch in the caption to her photo at the time. “So proud I can’t even begin!!”
Fans will be hoping Healy is the one to make a surprise appearance on stage in Nashville this weekend, which would surely all but confirm the fan theories.
Disney-owned ABC said it would be taken off-air indefinitely – and with immediate effect – after network operator Nexstar said it would stop broadcasting the programme.
Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, said it “strongly objects” to Kimmel’s comments.
“Mr Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse,” he said, with the show to go off-air to “let cooler heads prevail”.
What happened?
Kimmel called out what he believes is hypocrisy in how Republicans have responded to Mr Kirk’s death.
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11:54
The killing of Charlie Kirk
On the Monday edition of his show, Kimmel drew attention to Capitol rioters who “wanted to hang” Mr Trump’s first term vice president, Mike Pence, for certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 election win.
“Was that the liberal left? Or the toothless army who stormed the Capitol on January 6,” said Kimmel.
His remarks saw the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Trump backer Brendan Carr, threaten to “take action” against Disney and ABC.
Mr Trump himself had previously welcomed the prospect of Kimmel’s show being cancelled, describing him on his Truth Social platform as someone with “absolutely NO TALENT”.
A representative for Kimmel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kimmel follows in Colbert’s footsteps
The abrupt removal of Jimmy Kimmel Live comes after fellow late night host Stephen Colbert saw his programme cancelled, which fans claimed was a result of his criticism of Mr Trump.
Mr Trump presents himself as a staunch advocate of free speech, but regularly rails against media organisations which criticise him. This week he launched a lawsuit against The New York Times.
CBS announced in July it would end The Late Show when its current series ends next May.
In a statement, the network said the move was “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
Mr Trump praised the move, saying “his talent was even worse than his ratings”.
Colbert’s Late Show won an Emmy for outstanding talk series for the first time at the weekend.
Robert Redford’s grandchildren have paid tribute to the Hollywood icon with a series of never-before-seen family photos.
Redford died on Tuesday at the age of 89 in the mountains of Utah “surrounded by those he loved”, according to his representative Cindi Berger.
Now Conor Schlosser, the 33-year-old son of Redford’s eldest daughter Shauna Redford, 64, has posted five photos on Instagram with the movie star, including three throwback pictures from his childhood of the pair together.
In them, they are riding a horse, opening a present and playing golf.
Image: Pic: conorschlosser/Instagram
Image: Pic: conorschlosser/Instagram
Image: Pic: conorschlosser/Instagram
Mr Schlosser, 33, also shared two more recent pictures with Redford, including one of them enjoying a meal and the other of him with his arm around his grandfather.
In a caption that accompanied the social media post, he wrote: “He was larger than life to the world, but to his family, he was simply that … family. “Rest in peace, Grandpa.🐎”.”
He added: “If anyone has a favorite story of him you’d like to share, please send it to me in a private message – I’d love to collect them.”
His cousin, Lena Hart Redford, the 29-year-old daughter of Redford’s late son, James Redford, also posted a number of pictures with the Hollywood star on Instagram.
Image: Pic: lilredford/Instagram
Image: Pic: lilredford/Instagram
There were photos of her on a horse with her grandfather and also with him on a film set. She also included a photo of her late father with Redford in the post, which she captioned with a red heart emoji.
Image: Pic: lilredford/Instagram
Image: Pic: lilredford/Instagram
Image: Pic: lilredford/Instagram
And in a tribute on Instagram Stories, she shared a throwback image of her and Redford wearing Kangol-brand beanies. “Taught me so much. … Had us all in Kangol,” she wrote.
She also posted a picture of Redford and her father horseback riding. “Dad & grandpa, I feel like they are riding awesome horses in heaven,” she wrote.
Lena Redford’s brother, Dylan Redford, shared a picture with his grandfather on his Instagram Stories.
He wrote: “He was best grampa a grandson could ask for. He also made amazing things, helped others make amazing things, and tried to make the world a better place.”
Image: Pic: dredford_/Instagram/AP
Redford fathered four children with his first wife Lola Van Wagenen – sons Scott and James and daughters Shauna and Amy.
Scott died in 1959 from sudden infant death syndrome aged only two months, while his younger son James died aged 58 of cancer in 2020.
Redford is survived by his wife Sibylle Szaggars Redford, daughters Shauna and Amy and seven grandchildren.
“I’d miss London. The band is here, I wouldn’t be able to play.”
In Ireland, any Irish citizen over 35 can run for president – but to get on the ballot, a candidate must be nominated by 20 members of parliament or four local authorities.
Geldof said: “I simply wouldn’t have had time.”
He said he had considered it, thinking it could be something “new, interesting and useful”, 50 years after finding fame in The Boomtown Rats, and 40 years after launching Band Aid.
Geldof said he’d briefly spoken to Prime Minister Micheal Martin, asking him: “‘What would you think about Bob Geldof being the candidate for the Fianna Fail Party?’ He said, ‘I think it’d be great, but I’ve already chosen someone’.
“I said, ‘That’s the end of the conversation Taoiseach, thanks very much,’ and that was it.”
Former football manager Jim Gavin was later announced as Fianna Fail’s official candidate.
Image: Geldof performs during Live Aid at Wembley in July 1985. Pic: AP
McGregor, who had promised to curb immigration in order to protect “Irish culture” and to give power “back to the people,” announced he was withdrawing from the race earlier this week.
Ex-Riverdance performer Michael Flatley, 67, has also expressed an interest in running for office.
This year’s ballot deadline is midday on 24 September, a month ahead of the election on 24 October. A largely ceremonial role, representing Ireland at home and abroad, it runs for a seven-year term.
Image: Conor McGregor met Donald Trump at the White House on St Patrick’s Day. Pic: X/@WhiteHouse
‘Please stop,’ Geldof tells Israel
Geldof, who has Jewish heritage and is the Founding Patron of the British Holocaust Museums Aegis Trust for Genocide Studies, also spoke passionately about the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Following a UN Commission report which found Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, Geldof said: “When you purposefully starve children as an instrument of war then you are a war criminal.”
He went on: “People simply don’t have the bandwidth to deal with the cost of living, the flag waving, the horror of Ukraine, the horrors of Gaza. They’re just tired, and they just want Israel to please stop it. And the UN has just confirmed that. Stop.”
The accusation of genocide has been made by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Israel’s foreign ministry said it “categorically rejects this distorted and false report” and called for the commission to be abolished.
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Geldof was speaking at the prestigious Sky Arts event, where he was recognised for his influence as a musician and cultural figure over the last five decades with a lifetime achievement award.
Never afraid to be outspoken, he was one of the defining voices of the 1970s punk era before going on to co-create Band Aid and the historic Live Aid concerts, reshaping the relationship between music and global activism.
Geldof performed with his band, The Boomtown Rats, during the ceremony which took place at London’s Roundhouse, hosted by comedian Bill Bailey.