Barry Keoghan is opening up about the online hate he received over his looks following his breakup with Sabrina Carpenter.
During his appearance Friday (March 20) on SiriusXM’s The Morning Mash Up, the 33-year-old Irish actor revealed that he went into hiding after his 2024 breakup with the pop star.
“There’s a lot of hate online. It’s a lot of abuse of how I look,” Keoghan told host Ben Harlum. “I think I removed myself from online, but I’m still a curious human being that wants to go on and, if I attend an event or if I go somewhere, you want to see how it was received. And it’s not nice.”
He added, “It’s made me shy away, it’s made me really go inside myself and not want to attend places, not want to go outside.”
The Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man star also shared that he’s been avoiding public appearances because of ongoing harassment.
“It’s becoming a problem,” he said. “I don’t have to hide away because I am hiding away. I don’t have to go to places because I actually don’t go to places because of these things. But when that starts leaking into your art, it becomes a problem because then you don’t even want to be on screen anymore.”
Following his high-profile breakup from Carpenter in December 2024, Keoghan deleted his Instagram account. Shortly after, he issued a lengthy statement on X explaining his decision.
“I can only sit and take so much,” the actor wrote at the time. “My name has been dragged across the internet in ways I usually don’t respond to.”
He added, “I deactivated my account because I can no longer let this stuff distract me from my family and work. The messages I have received no person should ever have to read them. Absolute lies, hatred, disgusting commentary about my appearance, character, how I am as a parent and every other inhumane thing you can imagine.”
Keoghan and Carpenter dated for about a year. A source at the time of their split told People the couple decided to take a break due to their busy careers. The pair first sparked dating rumors in late 2023 before making their public debut at a Vanity Fair Oscars afterparty. Keoghan also appeared alongside Carpenter in the music video for her Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping single “Please Please Please,” featured on her album Short n’ Sweet.
While on The Morning Mash Up, Keoghan said he’s concerned about the impact the online criticism could eventually have on his 3-year-old son, Brando, whom he welcomed with former girlfriend Alyson Sandro.
“It is disappointing for the fans, but it’s also disappointing that my little boy has to read all of this stuff when he gets older,” the actor said.
Keoghan is starring as Ringo Starr in director Sam Mendes’ upcoming four-part Beatles biopic series. The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event also stars Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, and Harris Dickinson portraying John Lennon. The films are slated to hit theaters in April 2028.
