Barry Keoghan revealed the truth about the cheating rumors
7 may 2026 в 21:13
Barry Keoghan has finally spoken out. After sixteen months of silence, the Dublin native appeared on Benny Blanco’s podcast «Friends Keep Secrets» and called the cheating rumors what they have always been—lies.
«One girl made a video, and then the same girl released another video apologizing for making it up», - Barry said. «But no one paid attention to the clarification».
Of course, no one did. The truth doesn’t provoke the same uproar as a betrayal story.
He left social media. He remained in the shadows for over a year. And while the internet decided he was the villain in Sabrina Carpenter’s love life, two real people quietly suffered from something they couldn’t control.
As another Dubliner watching our fellow countryman being publicly criticized, I feel very sorry for both of them.
Here’s what no one wanted to hear in December 2024: Barry and Sabrina never fought with each other. They were battling an invisible third party that had taken over their relationship, and that third party was a TikTok video.
When such a rumor goes viral, society rushes to diagnose and condemn. A diagnosis gives people confidence when a celebrity relationship seems threatened. It turns pain into a story with a clear villain. The girl who made the original video became a hero for five minutes. The retraction, however, was buried because retractions are boring.
And then the harassment begins. Relentless, algorithmic, 24/7 for over a year.
When the whole world is screaming at you, your nervous system goes into biological panic. You experience an existential level of shame. And shame doesn’t make you a better partner. Shame makes you hide. Shame makes you delete apps. Shame makes you stop answering calls.
Barry’s departure from social media is not a weakness. It’s a reaction to disconnection, and that’s how the human nervous system behaves when it’s being bullied beyond what’s acceptable. He raised the bridge to stay alive.
Meanwhile, Sabrina is on a stadium tour, performing in front of tens of thousands of people every night, while strangers in the comments discuss whether her boyfriend cheated on her with someone who didn’t exist. Try coming home and being soft and open after that.
In such a story, there’s a partner that everyone forgets about. The partner of the accused.
Sabrina endured trauma that the internet never names. A false narrative created by fans that she couldn’t confirm or deny without inflating it further. Silence looked like complicity. Speaking out felt like excessive protesting. There was no winning move.
I see this dynamic every week in my office in San Francisco, working with founders, executives, people whose lives are under scrutiny that most people can’t even imagine. A huge external stressor crashes down on relationships. A lawsuit, a viral rumor, a public failure. On paper, both partners understand that the problem lies in the outside world. But in their bodies, the stress is so overwhelming that they start to argue with each other.
One partner becomes a lightning rod and disconnects. The other partner stands there and absorbs the shockwaves, feeling utterly alone. They come to my office and argue about PR strategy, about who said what, why one didn’t defend the other loudly enough.
It’s all a timeline trap. The questions of «who did what and when». The real struggle is two questions that the human nervous system can’t stop asking: «Are you here for me?» and «Am I good enough for you?»
If you want to see your version of this dynamic without the stadium and cameras, the Empathi relationship test is a good place to start. Most couples are fighting this war and don’t even realize it.
The internet loves to pick sides. To burn the accused or to call the relationship weak for not withstanding the test. I’m not interested in either of those viewpoints.
Here, no one is the villain. Neither Barry nor Sabrina. Frankly, not even those who fell for the bait of the fake video
«One girl made a video, and then the same girl released another video apologizing for making it up», - Barry said. «But no one paid attention to the clarification».
Of course, no one did. The truth doesn’t provoke the same uproar as a betrayal story.
He left social media. He remained in the shadows for over a year. And while the internet decided he was the villain in Sabrina Carpenter’s love life, two real people quietly suffered from something they couldn’t control.
As another Dubliner watching our fellow countryman being publicly criticized, I feel very sorry for both of them.
Here’s what no one wanted to hear in December 2024: Barry and Sabrina never fought with each other. They were battling an invisible third party that had taken over their relationship, and that third party was a TikTok video.
When such a rumor goes viral, society rushes to diagnose and condemn. A diagnosis gives people confidence when a celebrity relationship seems threatened. It turns pain into a story with a clear villain. The girl who made the original video became a hero for five minutes. The retraction, however, was buried because retractions are boring.
And then the harassment begins. Relentless, algorithmic, 24/7 for over a year.
When the whole world is screaming at you, your nervous system goes into biological panic. You experience an existential level of shame. And shame doesn’t make you a better partner. Shame makes you hide. Shame makes you delete apps. Shame makes you stop answering calls.
Barry’s departure from social media is not a weakness. It’s a reaction to disconnection, and that’s how the human nervous system behaves when it’s being bullied beyond what’s acceptable. He raised the bridge to stay alive.
Meanwhile, Sabrina is on a stadium tour, performing in front of tens of thousands of people every night, while strangers in the comments discuss whether her boyfriend cheated on her with someone who didn’t exist. Try coming home and being soft and open after that.
In such a story, there’s a partner that everyone forgets about. The partner of the accused.
Sabrina endured trauma that the internet never names. A false narrative created by fans that she couldn’t confirm or deny without inflating it further. Silence looked like complicity. Speaking out felt like excessive protesting. There was no winning move.
I see this dynamic every week in my office in San Francisco, working with founders, executives, people whose lives are under scrutiny that most people can’t even imagine. A huge external stressor crashes down on relationships. A lawsuit, a viral rumor, a public failure. On paper, both partners understand that the problem lies in the outside world. But in their bodies, the stress is so overwhelming that they start to argue with each other.
One partner becomes a lightning rod and disconnects. The other partner stands there and absorbs the shockwaves, feeling utterly alone. They come to my office and argue about PR strategy, about who said what, why one didn’t defend the other loudly enough.
It’s all a timeline trap. The questions of «who did what and when». The real struggle is two questions that the human nervous system can’t stop asking: «Are you here for me?» and «Am I good enough for you?»
If you want to see your version of this dynamic without the stadium and cameras, the Empathi relationship test is a good place to start. Most couples are fighting this war and don’t even realize it.
The internet loves to pick sides. To burn the accused or to call the relationship weak for not withstanding the test. I’m not interested in either of those viewpoints.
Here, no one is the villain. Neither Barry nor Sabrina. Frankly, not even those who fell for the bait of the fake video
© Kolganov Andrey
