A Timeline of Gracie Abrams & Paul Mescal’s Relationship

Years before they would start dating, Abrams and Mescal had an adorable exchange on X. After posting about the then-upcoming release of her debut EP, Minor — writing, “tell your moms and dads” — the actor replied, “Mum and dad have set their alarms.”

The singer replied, “expecting a play by play from both of them thank you in advance,” under which Mescal wrote, “Deal.”

Gossip accounts started reporting that Abrams and Mescal were linked as early as late 2023. And when the singer dropped her breakout sophomore album The Secret of Us in June 2024, some of the songs appeared to confirm rumors that their initial reported fling had ended in heartbreak, such as “Normal Thing.”

“It’s a normal thing to fall in love with movie stars/ When the lights are low and red at all their favorite bars/ And the story you want is the story you get/ Are you special, or was this all scripted in his head?” she sings. “Don’t worry, I know I’ll see you again/ Oh, you’ll make me cry when it comes to an end.”

The first time Mescal and Abrams were spotted together in public was in late June 2024, with TMZ sharing photos of the pair sitting across from each other at a London restaurant.

In August, the internet freaked out as a photo of the couple holding hands in the city surfaced.

In her April 2025 Billboard cover story, Abrams — who kept specific details of her relationship under wraps — said that she’d made an effort not to let her skyrocketing fame affect how she approached dating. “That would be so unfortunate,” she said at the time with a laugh.

She acknowledged at the time that prying eyes and public speculation can make relationships more difficult, but having friend Taylor Swift in her life has helped put things into perspective. “It’s like, I really don’t have it that bad in terms of invasion of privacy, you know what I mean?” Abrams added. “I feel like I learned a lot from her, obviously, but one of the things that I’ve felt lucky to observe is how extreme it can be [for her]. It helps right-size my own s–t.”

Abrams and Mescal made their relationship Instagram official after attending Glastonbury 2025 — where she also played a set — with the musician sharing photos of herself and her boyfriend hanging out with friends and lying on a blanket at the festival.

A few days prior, Abrams had posted a video on Instagram Stories of herself perched atop Mescal’s shoulders as they sang along to “Friday I’m in Love” at The Cure’s Glastonbury set.

Abrams played the role of supportive girlfriend when she shared photos from behind the scenes of Hamnet, in which Mescal starred alongside Jessie Buckley, and gushed about her boyfriend’s performance in the project.

“Paul is singular,” she wrote, sharing a snap of Mescal smoking a cigarette while showing off his Shakespeare T-shirt. “Also I love him surprise.”

Abrams opened up about how entering a stable longterm relationship with Mescal made her question her ability to continue songwriting in a cover story interview with Vogue, saying that it “freaked me out.”

“I was worried feeling secure and stable was threatening my drive to write music,” she added at the time.

Abrams unveiled her highly anticipated third album Daughter From Hell on July 17, 2026, featuring a love song that’s almost definitely about Mescal as well as a track that the actor helped pen.

On the ultra romantic “Afflictions,” she sings, “It’s the shape of your hands/ Made me brave once again/ You became where I land.”

She previously told Olivia Rodrigo in a pre-album conversation for Spotify that “Afflictions” was a rare moment where she found the words to describe her relationship with Mescal. “I can’t write about it much,” Abrams said. “When I’ve tried to write about it before, it kind of diminishes what it actually feels like. But that [song] is super real for me.”

Mescal earned a writer credit on the song “Imaginary Friend” from the album, the creation of which Abrams opened up about in a Rolling Stone cover story. “It wasn’t some extraordinary event,” she told the magazine. “We’re a very musical household, and so there’s always something brewing … I feel lucky to be generally inspired by him as a person and by his brain.”

Abrams again spoke about Mescal’s impact on her songwriting, clarifying her prior remarks to Vogue and saying that despite her initial concern, the stability of her relationship has actually given her more space and freedom explore her creativity.

“It has held a mirror to me in ways that I didn’t know a relationship with another person of any kind could,” she told Rolling Stone. “It has given me all the perspective that I could have ever hoped for, on previous relationships, on my relationship with my family, on my friendships. It is the greatest gift, period.”