It seems that Tiddles/Swifston is our new Hunterbatch. Some of you don’t remember this, but when Benedict Cumberbatch suddenly announced his engagement to Sophie Hunter in 2014, the treads were very similar. Suddenly, we were supposed to believe that Benedict and Sophie were super-official, and then we learned she was pregnant and the whole thing just went next-level crazy. Will Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston follow a similar path? I have no idea. I do know that these photos of Tiddles-in-Suffolk on Sunday are everywhere. Taylor made sure that every paparazzo and every photo agency got the shots. Taylor and Tom stayed on the beach for hours doing their loved-up stroll so that everyone would have the shots.
Like Hunterbatch, the sexual histories of Taylor and Tom are being examined closely. While we know all of Taylor’s boy-drama history, Tom’s sexual past is largely a question mark. We know he dated Kat Dennings at one point, and of course we know about Jane Arthy and Elizabeth Olsen. But who else? Well, The Sun has the scoop on Tom’s first big love affair. And with an older woman!
Taylor Swift better be able to Shake It Off if fans compare her to new partner Tom Hiddleston’s first love – because the pair are chalk and cheese. Stunning Swift, 26, and dashing actor Hiddleston – who is tipped to be the next James Bond – have recently unveiled their whirlwind romance. But The Sun on Sunday can reveal that Hiddleston’s taste appears to have changed A LOT compared to the brainbox academic who is said to be the first woman to steal his heart.
Oxford professor Lucie Cluver, a decade older than Swift, is internationally respected for AIDS and HIV research and projects in South Africa where she works alongside with the World Health Organisation and UNICEF. And that is just the tip of ‘Ex-Factor’ Lucie’s list of achievements. She has also headed research grants for millions of pounds in to ‘Preventing Child Abuse in the context of HIV and AIDS in Southern Africa’ and generating evidence on ‘Social Protection and HIV and AIDS.’
Lucie and Hiddleston, 35, are believed to have met when they both studied at Cambridge University and a close source last night said the smitten actor was like Lucie’s “lap dog”. But with the passing of time it now seems likely the former couple are Never Ever Getting Back Together.
The source said: “Lucie’s a very bright, energetic, popular woman. Tom was head-over-heals for her. She was his first real love. They were in a serious relationship for a while when they were at uni together and then things just fizzled out as they pursued their own careers. It is strange – if you could stand Lucie next to Taylor they are completely different. Taylor is a party-girl performer and Lucie is a brilliant academic who is doing really important research across the world. Tom obviously has a broad taste in women.”
The Daily Mail notes that Lucie is 45 years old now, which makes her a decade older than 35-year-old Tom. The Sun makes it seem like Lucie and Tom were at Cambridge together as students, but it seems more likely that she was probably already some kind of adjunct professor at the time, right? Let’s say the relationship began when Tom was 20 – she would have been 30, and most likely already a PhD and a scholar in her field. So Tom was Tommybanging one of his Cambridge professors? Huh. As for Tom being this woman’s “lapdog”… I can see it. He probably tried to quote Shakespeare sonnets to her and she was like, “Fetch me a cup of tea and do shut up.”
Update: there’s some confusion about her age – as I said above, the Daily Mail claimed that Lucie is 45 years old now, while the Sun has her at 35 years old. Thanks to commenter-investigators, I guess her age is 35 or thereabouts!
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
sounds a bit like his Team trying to reclaim his old clever guy image.
Too late! That boat sailed, he’s not onboard…
Yep, and at her (a private citizen’s) expense.
this is the part were we get to hear about the past… right on schedule with the script!
He totally seems like the kind of guy, to me, who would be with an older woman. I really doubt the Taylor thing will last.
That’s why most of his gfs are the same age or younger, you know? Cause he likes cougars.
Two younger gfs (debatably for publicity purposes) vs Gwendoline Christie, Jane Arthy and now this lady who were older than him.
Welp, pitching women against one another along with a gross, sort of classist undertone. Then again, it is the Sun that this story is coming from so I shouldn’t be surprised. I’m not really a Taylor fan but she has amassed her own little empire of sorts and is a clever businesswoman. She also gives millions of dollar away to charity. I’m not down with her being called a “party girl performer” considering she’s one of the best selling artists of all times and I find all of this “she’s not good enough for precious, woobified Tom” a little off putting. Tom seems just as thirsty as her and just as into the public nature of their relationship. One could easily flip the script on all this “she’s not good enough for him” talk by pointing out that he’s ten years older, has a receding hairline, doesn’t come close to her record of charity work, and has nowhere near her success and hasn’t made much of a dent outside of Marvel. He may be a nice man, but she could just as well be a kind person too outside of her ridiculous Katy Perry beef.
I like Tom, don’t get me wrong, but all these people acting like he’s so superior because he’s British, posh, and well educated….meh. Especially because there is no way in hell his team and himself aren’t participating in the public nature of this relationship
THIS
He is a guy, he always gets the benefit of the doubt. You could catch him actually ringing up paps and people would dismiss it as a prank or suggest that Taylor made him ring them. None of this is out of character imo. None of his previous gfs have been the type to play this game, thats why he didnt do pap walks. He has found his female version so naturally he is unleashing his true self.
I found the way the two women were being compared really off-putting, as well. It was also ridiculously cheesy (and made for some incredibly awkward sentences) that they kept making references to Taylor’s song titles. SMH.
My thoughts exactly! Thanks for saying it better than I could, though!
+1 Thank you for saying this. I couldn’t agree more.
Ditto. No way Tom isn’t all up in publicizing this relationship. Strangely, I would think the more important a special woman would be to him, for real, the more he would want to keep it private. Which makes me wonder if this public relationship isn’t all that sacred to him because he chose to make it public from the get go.
I just checked Lucie Cluver’s CV. She attended Cambridge 1998–2001 University of Cambridge MA Classics Class I (Distinction)
Thesis Class I (Distinction)
That would have been the same time as him. I think that the idiot “journalists” meant to say that she is a decade older than Taylor Swift. She certainly does not look to be 45 in her pictures. She has a very impressive CV by the way – obviously an intelligent woman. She moved from Classics to Social Work when she went to Oxford after her graduation from Cambridge.
She could have been an older student. She is still amazing. That Tom has been punching above his weight for a long time.
If she did an MA beginning in 1998, she would have been at least 21 in that year. It’s an MA not a BA so she would have to have already done a first degree. Is she South African? Presumably the same or similar years as an undergrad? Here in the UK, you usually start your undergrad studies when you are 18/19 and end when you are 21/22. Unless you’ve taken a gap year.
So I would say that the latest she was born was 1977. Making her 39 or 40 at least.
Actually, Cambridge and Oxford both allow for its Bachelor graduates to have their honours undergraduate degree to be promoted to an MA after a certain number of years without the student having done further graduate studies.
synnae is correct. Six years after the first term for Cambridge. There’s an application and fee from most colleges. Tom could be an MA if he wanted.
What exactly are Classics? Greek and Latin? And can you actually find a job with those?
Classics is a degree that covers a wide range of topics about the ancient world (aka classical world) of Greece and Rome including language, literature, art and art history, history, philosophy, music, society, government, architecture etc. In terms of languages, it covers greek and latin of course, but other languages or communication methods from the same period are covered.
In terms of jobs, you can take up jobs, here is a helpful suggestions outside of those areas of study
https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/what-can-i-do-with-my-degree/classics
Hands in the pocket, inoring Princess Tay while she draws her fairytale castle high up in the sky five steps behind, oblivious to her prince’s up ahead, counting days to board a flight, escaping her clutch, far away to the land down under, where hot Ozzies await. Such is life, it is known.
Dude has reached saturation point. Do you lovely ladies think his niece is a fan of Princess Taylor?
Dunno, but she’s a cutie, isn’t she?
The DM blacked out the child’s face. As they should. She shouldn’t be part of this.
@chloe agreed, but I did see her face on TH’s fan ig account.
@boredblond I am of the opinion that all children and stinking cute and delightful as long as they aren’t bawling their heads off for no reason or throwing eggs on the wall just because- mine included. 😉
It says “a decade older than Swift”, not “a decade older than Tom”.
The article says Tom and Lucie are the same age, both 35.
She’s a “decade” older than Swift.
Look at her pic, she’s 35 yo not 45.
According to Cluver’s CV, she was at Cambridge doing a MA in Classics from 1998-2001, which is when he would have been there. But MA student = clearly NOT a professor. She doesn’t look 10 years older at all. My guess is she is just a few years older, though her CV doesn’t list where/when she got her BA. Perhaps it was a non-Oxbridge University and she doesn’t want it on her CV. After her MA, she goes over to Oxford for the rest of time, with a couple visiting scholar stints at other places. She is currently at Oxford’s Department of Social Policy and Intervention and her CV is available online.
https://www.spi.ox.ac.uk/people/profile/cluver.html
NB Someone posted must of this info as I was writing it apparently, so apologies for repeating someone else. And someone else noted that the article says a “decade older than Swift” so the headline for this post seems a bit misleading, but apparently the DM (couldn’t be bothered to do their own research?) put her age as 45 years old.
So she was a grad studen while he was an undergrad?
That’s how I read it too, Lilac. See above.
I can’t believe I actually know this – but after a period of time both Oxford and Cambridge confer Master’s degree status on students who earned what we consider to be a Bachelor’s degree and graduates can claim it as an MA on their CV. Perhaps that is the case here. Oops, I see I’m not the first to mention it.
I think there is some growing controversy about it because it requires no further study, just wait a few years and pay a fee. Other universities in the UK don’t do this, it’s unique to Oxbridge. Some people are starting to notate the different status on their CV to avoid confusion or controversy, but they don’t have to. That can lead to an unfair advantage if potential employers aren’t familiar with the practice – it can make a CV look artificially more advanced.
That’s obviously not the case here, she seems like a very serious and accomplished woman. Tom should be so lucky.
Thank you!
Dara – Thanks for the information! You are totally right about the MA upon completion of a BA and that is exactly what it looks like on her CV, which is why it took 3 years. Most MA courses are 1 or 2 years long, but a BA is 3 years. Yeah, Oxbridge loves to make their students look better than everyone else.
This is nothing against people who have attended Oxbridge of course, but the institutions themselves are rather obnoxious. I had a mentor who taught at Oxford after getting her PhD at University of Pennsylvania (an Ivy League school). Oxford awarded her an honorary MA because you couldn’t teach at Oxford without having a degree from Oxford. I don’t know it this is still the case; it was many years ago. Oxford more than Cambridge remains terribly incestuous (i.e. they give positions to people with Oxford degrees), which is really frowned upon in most parts of academia.
And yes, Dr. Culver has had quite a stunning career.
There is a difference in some undergraduate degrees in some of the ancient universities in Britain.
“In the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin, Bachelors of Arts with Honours of these universities are promoted to the degree of Master of Arts or Master in Arts (MA) on application after six or seven years’ seniority as members of the university (including years as an undergraduate). As such, it is an academic rank, and not a postgraduate qualification. No further examination or study is required for this promotion.
This practice differs from most other universities worldwide, at which the degree reflects further postgraduate study or achievement. These degrees are therefore sometimes referred to as the Oxford and Cambridge MA and the Dublin or Trinity MA, to draw attention to the difference.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Arts_(Oxbridge_and_Dublin)
Thus that double first in Classics is her undergraduate degree – which is the same one that Hiddleston got (he also a got a double first). She continued in Academia so she was promoted to MA rather than BA. (Then she received a number of postgraduate degrees, not in Classics but in Social Work) So yes they are approximately the same age.
I think Lucie is older than Tom (as were Gwen and The JArthy) but not a decade older.
As well as also pointing out their respective ages “lucie, hiddleston 35” where does it say a decade older than tom?
I like Div’s comment. Tom is aiming to be the new James Bond, so it is clearly possible that he’s being strategic to bump him up to the next level of fame and fortune. She’s doing damage control because of that ass—- Calvin Harris (who rightfully SHOULD have married Taylor in my book) so her interest could be strategic, too. Since I don’t know them personally, this is all guess work (though I know many are dead certain this is only a PR relationship). I do like them both and wish them both the best.
I think she’s trying to have an alternative narrative than the Kanye thing, not the Calvin thing. He’s like a little fly compared to Kanye right now.
I think going through the release of Kanye’s video solo, after just being ‘dumped’ would have been hard. I cannot fault the girl for this move at this time.
If she was class of 01 she is anywhere from 1-3 years older I would assume. Certainly not a decade. I strted school at the age of 4 and left University in 02. I’m 35.
Hiddles looks less than thrilled by all this.
‘Brainbox”.
Cumberbatch and his wife were dating for at least a year in secret before they went public, though. That’s obviously not the case with these two, whose every movement has been so well-documented.
Nope, they were dating since few months and she get pregnant.
Cumberbatch and his wife began dating in the spring, got knocked up by late summer and engaged by late fall.
They were not dating a year.
“They were not dating a year. ”
But they knew each over for 17 years )).
That is something Tiddles won’t be able to beat.
anon123 – even that fact is suspect.
They made a film together circa 2008-2009. And that is the only known association between them.
When her CV was brushed up, so was their history together, I’m afraid.
As for something to beat, I don’t think it’s a competition. Whatever her faults (and I am not a fan in the least) Sophie has miles on Taylor in the depth department. She is age appropriate and does not appear to be immature, just full of herself. I give Sophie’s marriage far better odds than this coupling…
Unless Hiddleston has absolutely zero character or integrity whatsoever (and I hold out hope there is something buried deep), even a famewhore with any agile intellect will eventually become bored with shenanigans like this for the rest of his life.
Wait until his children are born and see how enthusiastic he is about the constant pap walks.
They were dating at most 3-4 months before she got pregnant. That’s why everyone was up at arms about it.
Even if they were dating for a week before Sophie got pregnant, they’re still at least from the same world and not as in your face and famehory as these two. JFC I don’t think I’ve ever rolled my eyes harder than these beach photoshoots playing happy family.
She’s was his first girlfriend ever. He didn’t have a girlfriend until college. He was a geek.
Wouldn’t have been difficult for him to have a girlfriend if he attended an all boys boarding school. I suspect maybe there weren’t any coed or all girls schools close. So when would he have the time to get girlfriend.
Oh, this is so stupid, that poor woman (Cluver) is about to have her life exposed because he wants to still look cerebral??? Shame on him and his PR people.
I would be so punching him in that stupid nose of his!!
Given the tone of that article in that paper I doubt somehow that Tom had much to do with it. I think someone might be taking advantage of the current “interest” in him.
Agreed. He’s talked about Lucie in several interviews and NEVER gave even her first name. Papers do their own snooping if they think it will boost revenue
Wow- people are still not getting it- Old Tom is gone. New PR driven Tom is trying to prove he had other, smart girlfriends before this (see, not gay! not into little girls!). A “source” aka PR person calls and drops her name and the papers do the rest.
aww piggy ride
That is the end of privacy for real then. We are going to learn everything about the Lord Dragonfly.
I honestly can’t see a serious and wordly woman like this with Hiddleston, he is too self-invoived.
He had more character back then, maybe.
I feel for Lucie, going about you day and then to read that you are gossip fodder because you dated a future actor as an undergrad.
Future actor who is now in the media for dating the world’s most famous pop princess.
Lucie is an adult and a professional in a serious field, doing serious work. She didn’t deserve that.
But the comparison between the two women is interesting. Style vs substance.
Agree . Yet Lucie sounds more interesting than a pop singer perpetually stuck at age 14.
I just don’t see this relationship lasting because there is so much media. I get that Taylor is a successful pop star but her love life is a hot mess. At the age of 25 she dated 12 plus men and her longest relationship last 9 months. Most of them are consider flings because they only last a couple of months. Taylor loves the drama and admiration of being in love but she doesn’t know how to create a stable relationship. This whole fiasco is proof, Taylor is level 10 drama queen that makes millions off her ex-lovers by writing them in chart-topping songs.
She is our modern age Elizabeth Taylor and people love to watch her…literally every movement and she feed into that crap. No pity for either of them if this relationship crumbles in the next 5 months. I just wonder who is gonna be her next victim.
Elizabeth Taylor??????????????? T.Swift wishes!
Please just no.
HUH? If you are going by how many lovers, then EVERYONE IN HOLLYWOOD can say they are Elizabeth Taylor. And E.T. wasn’t even the first to have multiple lovers. So, no, she is not the modern day Elizabeth Taylor.
I don’t see a problem here – your twenties are for dating and discovering who you are and what you want. Maybe some women would like to have a long-term boyfriend or get married before the age of 25 but otherwise that’s exactly how it happens with mere mortals – we date for short/long periods of time. We date guys for two weeks, two months, two years – what is the problem? Some continue dating for the rest of their lives. I for example, am in my thirties, in a relationship and not looking to get married.
I think there is a difference between dating and serial monogamy. She’s jumped in with both feet to every relationship she’s been in. There doesn’t seem to be any air of casual dating about her.
@Kate, can you explain how you are able to know that she is doing one and not the other? Because “there doesn’t seem…” doesn’t cut it. How do you know what her real intentions are exactly?
I posted earlier but it disappeared. This story first appeared in the Mirror last week in which “a former friend” conveniently unnamed dished the “dirt”. The article said Tom’s parents were “in teaching” which is patently not true, so don’t bet your house on the rest of the story.
So this is the woman he claims to have missed an important audition for just to surprise her in Paris via the Euro Star (or whatever it is called) which by the comments here, didn’t exist at the time? Pretty crappy that someone felt the need to drag her into this.
I feel a bit like this is the case of Bennifer circa 05, when (self-styled) serious actor Ben Affleck suddenly began dating an exotic pop-singer JLo and changed from baggy jeans into smart suits and began wearing makeup.
He came to his senses. Sort of.
Bennifer 1.0 also had a blue Bentley and a video on a yacht. Oh, and the pink diamond. Plus Gigli, which seemed to be the end.
Will SwiftHid have their own Gigli? Maybe the past two weeks have been all about filming a transcontinental love story.
He’s trying so hard to get this Bond role, that I hope it goes to literally anyone but him. I’ll even take Kellan Lutz as Lutzy Bond before Tom.
Hahah I will take Rowan Atkinson as Bond before Hiddles.
The huge difference between BC and TH stories was that Sophie was supposed to be a multi-talented goddess that no mere mortal could touch, in spite of being very obscure until she got together with BC. Taylor is being rather dissed here, I’d say: dismissed as shallow airhead, in spite of her huge success, as compared to a scholarly woman of substance.
So, where BC’s team seemed to be drumming up SH’s portfolio to show what a catch she was, is TH’s team laying ground work for their separation already? “Taylor was just not deep enough, smart enough” for Tom?
I also don’t see as many stories about the collective hearts of Internet breaking overnight… Granted, I don’t read any coverage of these two outside CB.
I think Taylor is very sharp. She wouldn’t be able to stay on top of the entertainment business and keep her image if she weren’t. The business she is in is very cruel , shark eats shark type of deal. I respect her for being able to control it.
She is just not scholarly, which is not a crime. She is a very successful business woman, she has no time or inclination for reading Proust at her leisure. There are plenty of people who are practical like that.
Or she just has a good team and doesn’t get in their way too much. Which, I suppose, also takes smarts.
I have honestly never heard Taylor speak, I’m not her fan (don’t like her songs), but I also have no beef with her and knew next to nothing about her personal life and PR games until I started coming to CB. I do think that this article is in poor taste and that “throwing shade” on Taylor for not being smart is nasty either way: if he loves her and the relationship is genuine, it’s low; and if it’s all PR and his exit strategy, it’s even more low.
But as someone who spent quite a bit of time reading Proust professionally, I resent your implication that doing so is impractical. I’d bet that statistically, it is far more practical to like reading Proust and want to be a professor than to like singing and want to be a super star. Especially when your talents are as limited as Taylor’s. Without her wealthy and supportive parents and a huge dose of luck, she’d not be where she is.
Tom was smart once. Okay, got it.
Lucie Cluver is doing some of the most important work around. And she seems to do it very very well for her young age.
I hope this attention only adds to her drive. She champions the mental health of children born to parents suffering from HIV in South Africa.
Guuuuuuuys that’s not how academia works here. At 30 no one is a professor! No one no one no one. At 30 she was possibly still a PhD student (depending on her field and lab) or possibly a post-doc. They were probably in the same College? My College bar is known as the gene pool, because so many seemingly random people have met there – for example, I’m a historian, my husband an economist, and our College friends include a cancer researcher, a physicist, an art historian and so on…that’s how people tend to meet people here – getting pissed. I can’t be bothered to look up which College he was at while at Cambridge, but that’s my guess.