Young love: full of promise, ignorant of reality? Valentine’s Day featured some of Hollywood’s biggest stars — and even set the stage for some real-life romance.
The romantic comedy, which was released in February 2010, followed various couples around Los Angeles as they dealt with the highs and lows of their relationships on Valentine’s Day. The series of interconnected stories featured experiences of first dates, crushes, longtime relationships and even rekindling romance between old flames.
Helmed by critically acclaimed director Garry Marshall, the film was overflowing with A-list stars including Julia Roberts, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Garner, Jessica Alba, Patrick Dempsey, Queen Latifah, Jamie Foxx and more. Two of the movie’s leads, Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner, however, found love off screen after portraying high school sweethearts.
The twosome began dating in fall 2009 after filming for the movie began, but called it quits in December of that same year.
“He liked her more than she liked him. He went everywhere he could to see her, but she didn’t travel much to see him,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly at the time. “They decided they were better as friends.”
When the Folklore songstress released her third studio album, Speak Now, in October 2010, she explained to Yahoo! Music that the record’s third track, “Back to December,” had a different message than her other breakup anthems.
“Up until now, I haven’t really felt like I really needed to apologize to someone,” she admitted at the time. “It’s just necessary.”
In the song, Swift sings, “You gave me roses and I left them there to die / So this is me swallowin’ my pride / Standin’ in front of you sayin’ I’m sorry for that night / And I go back to December all the time.”
Fans began to speculate that lyrics were about the Twilight star after the Grammy winner referenced “tan skin” and a “sweet smile” along with a timeline that matched up with her and Lautner’s romance.
“It’s almost word-for-word. It is a song and a conversation that needed to happen because I don’t want to hurt people. If you unintentionally do so, you’ve got to make that better,” Swift told USA Today at the time of the track’s release. “I feel so comfortable singing about these details and these relationships and listing times, dates, details, names. But when it comes to an interview and they say, ‘Are you dating this person?’ or ‘Did you date this person?’ or ‘What’s your current relationship status?’ I suddenly feel very shy.”
Lautner, for his part, confirmed the song was about him in August 2016 after his Scream Queens costar Lea Michele confronted him about it during a Facebook Live.
“Didn’t she write a song about you?” the Glee alum asked, to which Lautner replied, “That’s what she does,” he replied. “She writes songs. … It’s called ‘Back to December.’”
Despite their split, the duo remained friends and the Cuckoo alum has been spotted at a number of Swift’s concerts over the years. In November 2021, Lautner got engaged to another Taylor — Taylor Dome — and the pair tied the knot one year later. The “Shake It Off” artist, for her part, has been in a relationship with Joe Alwyn since 2016.
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