Paul Mescal’s ex Phoebe Bridgers says she was ‘bullied’ by fans after father died

The singer announced the death of her father in January on Instagram.

Just over a week later, she was spotted walking through LAX with comedian Bo Burnham amid rumours that she and the Irish star had ended their relationship of roughly one and a half years.

While they were rumoured to be dating, Paul appeared in the music video for Phoebe’s song Saviour Complex, which was directed by Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

A few days later, Paul finally revealed that he had a girlfriend during an interview with GQ, describing his partner as a “lifesaver”.

But last December fans who had previously speculated they were engaged, branded the pair’s relationship as “over”.

In a new interview with Them magazine alongside her boygenius bandmates Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker, Bridgers said she was “bullied” by fans while mourning the death of her father one month later.

“I’m coming from a place of literally – I’m feeling it in my body as I’m saying it, but – people with my picture as their Twitter picture, who claim to like my music, f***ing bullied me at the airport on the way to my father’s funeral this year,” she said.

“If you’re a kid and the internet somehow taught you that that’s an okay thing to do, then of course I hate capitalism and everything that led you to believe that it’s okay to do that,” Bridgers said. But, “I, at one of the lowest points of my life, saw people who claim to love me f***ing dehumanise me and shame me and f***ing bully me on the way to my dad’s wake.”

“It’s not like they didn’t know my dad just died,” she added. “A lot of the top comments [were] like, ‘Hey, her dad just died, what are you guys doing?’”

To those who use her picture as their profile photo but harass her online, “I f***ing hate you,” Bridgers said, “and I hope you grow the f*** up.”

The four-time Grammy nominee praised her bandmates for supporting her.

“I have to say, most of the people I talk to light up my life and remind me what I love about my job, but my two best friends are helping me with the boundary of: I don’t have to sit here and be f***ing grateful that that happened and that that’s a part of my job,” she said.

“It doesn’t have to be, and it wasn’t five years ago, so I appreciate being able to look at two other people and be like, this is dehumanising abuse, horrible s---.”

After making their red carpet debut together in November 2021, Maynooth native Paul and Phoebe officially confirmed their relationship in December with a sweet Instagram post.

The previous year it was reported they were contemplating a home in West Cork.

The pair spent her “best Christmas ever” in the actor’s local Kildare in 2021, Phoebe confessed to British Vogue.

"Last year, I stayed with my boyfriend’s family in Ireland.

“It was like a full-rom,” the award-winning singer said.

When asked for advice on a “successful relationship” by Vogue, she said a clear sign is “when your favourite thing to do is to hang out with each other”.

She also shared their ‘typical date night’: “Laying in the park for hours, then going home and watching TV.”

Paul joined Phoebe on tour in the US and admitted he loved spending time with his long-rumoured fiancée.

“I really, really enjoy being around her and her band and her friends,” he told Bustle.

"It’s also great to get to see a country that I’m not familiar with.”