Paul Mescal is opening up about his dating deal-breaker.
“What would be a red flag for me if I was on a date at a restaurant?” Mescal, 27, quizzed his All of Us Strangers costar Andrew Scott during an interview with Vanity Fair on Thursday, December 14.
After Scott, 47, guessed Mescal’s red flag is “being rude to the wait staff,” the Normal People actor agreed and added it’s “someone who doesn’t look at a waiter, specifically.”
Mescal noted it’s even a red flag if a person acknowledges the waiter, “But they’re like, ‘Thank you so much,’ but they don’t make eye contact.”
While Mescal may be dipping his toe into the dating pool these days, he hasn’t always been on the market. The Irish actor was most recently linked to singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers from 2020 until split rumors began in December 2022. Mescal seemingly confirmed that they had called it quits two months later.
“Maybe at some point but just not now,” Mescal told The Hollywood Reporter in February about addressing the split. “It’s just difficult territory. Yeah. … It’s been a f—king wild year. Many ups and downs.”
One week prior, he revealed to Vanity Fair that he felt “really mad and upset” over the speculation surrounding his relationship status with Bridgers, 29.
“I definitely feel the temptation to say the status of my whatever — that will always be there,” he said, admitting that it didn’t feel “wise” to do so. “The temptation still exists to be like, ‘Shut the f–k up. This is my life. This is what’s going on. Or this is what’s not going on.’”
While the pair made things official in November 2021 when they attended their first event together, Mescal and Bridgers initially connected in May 2020 via social media.
“Finished Normal People and now I’m sad and horny oh wait,” Bridgers wrote via X (formerly Twitter) at the time, to which Mescal replied, “I’m officially dead.” The singer then said: “Nooo don’t die your [sic] so talented aha.”
Months later, Mescal starred in Bridgers’ “Savior Complex” music video, and she credited the actor with the idea.
“He broached it. He was like, ‘I’m a fan of yours, let’s make something cool,’” she told British Vogue in December 2020. “And he told me about the Rolling Stones video [he did for ‘Scarlet’], and then I brought it to Phoebe [Waller-Bridge] and she was like, ‘Yeah, it’s too serendipitous to not do it, the fact that I told you to watch Normal People and now you guys are friends.’”
