The Paul Mescal rumour, explained.

If you've happened to open any social media app in the last 24 hours, you might have become very familiar with the name Paul Mescal. 

For those of you who aren't in the loop, Mescal is the Irish actor who made his debut in the miniseries Normal People. Since then, he's had leading roles in Aftersun, The Lost Daughter, and the upcoming Gladiator film. 

Essentially, he's cultivated a pretty impressive resume since 2020 and built a career that has earned him a BAFTA TV Award and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

But this week, a rumour began circulating about Mescal, 27 — one that has completely unravelled his respectable, professional and kind reputation.

Watch: MM Confessions: Tinder Tales. Post continues after video. 

According to "a lot" of sources, the actor has a habit of sleeping with women he meets at pubs. But that's not all. 

These "sources" have said that the following morning, he then asks them to go for a walk with him in the park and then... runs away. 

Let me repeat myself, so you don't miss that.

HE RUNS AWAY. 

HE. RUNS. AWAY. 

Clips began circulating on TikTok of 'blind items' (a story where the details are shared without the identities being named, only hinted to) claiming Mescal developed the habit while living in London.

One of the first to learn about the gossip and share it was Erin Mary Smith.

"Paul Mescal basically goes around North London — and this is from lots of sources — begging women for threesomes and when he does actually get with a girl, he'll say to them, 'Hey, wanna go for a walk?'," she said in a now-viral video. 

"And then in the middle of the chat, he will just leg it and just do a runner and leave her in the park."

She added that Mescal is also maybe (most definitely) still hung up over his ex-fiance, singer Phoebe Bridgers. 

"On top of this, he also liked to violently cry about Phoebe any single time he gets a big p*ssed or s**tfaced in the pub," she said. 

@erinmarysmith #paulmescal #gossip #rumour #irishcelebs #celebrity #phoebebridgers ♬ original sound - Erin Mary Smith

The memes, of course, have been off the chart. 

girls training for paul mescal marathon pic.twitter.com/olq8PzLBoJ

— ivy (@ohhhhherewego) December 24, 2023

paul mescal after taking a girl to a park pic.twitter.com/FalRRe7h93

— a (@irishcillian) December 24, 2023

i relate to paul mescal because i also want to run away from most people i’ve hooked up with

— carl marks (@whoreby_parker) December 25, 2023

me alone in the park cause my unfit ass couldn’t keep up with paul mescal pic.twitter.com/nZRIkiRvdF

— alice (@germystrong) December 25, 2023

While we have no clue if these rumours are actually true, Mescal does have a history of lying to get out of a bad date.

In February 2023, the actor confessed to lying to a girl on a first meeting so he'd have a good excuse to exit gracefully. 

"We were walking along some lovely canal in Amsterdam and it should have been very romantic, but it wasn't," he recalled when speaking to British Vogue. 

"There was a lot of silence and the only way for me in my head was to fake a phone call and pretend that my friend was in hospital. I got off the phone and I thought I'd given my greatest performance. 

"The first question she asks me was, 'Were you acting?' Eventually, I got her to believe me... I doubled down, I was like, 'Why would I joke about that? My friend is in hospital'... I'm a bad person." 

Alas, it seems unlikely he will ever confirm if his Irish exit strategy is actually real, but we can certainly hope not.

This article was published on December 27, 2023 and has since been updated with new information.

Feature Image: Getty.