Barry Keoghan Opens Up About the Intense Abuse He Faced Following Sabrina Carpenter Break-up

Barry Keoghan and Sabrina Carpenter may have split well over a year ago, but conversations around the pair's relationship have continued in the wake of their break-up. The former couple quickly became a popular celebrity pairing back in 2024; clips of Barry singing at Sabrina's shows instantly went viral, he was often spotted wearing jewellery with her name on, and the Espresso singer gushed that he was 'brilliant and amazing' after casting him in the iconic music video for Please, Please, Please.

However, in December 2024, after months of mounting split speculation, Barry and Sabrina confirmed that they had ended their relationship. Although the pair have remained tight-lipped about their split and have never confirmed why they separated, Barry faced accusations of infidelity in the wake of their break-up and went on to release a statement detailing the fan abuse he and his family were facing. He stated that the reaction to the break-up was 'inhumane', writing that he'd received messages that contained 'absolute lies, hatred, disgusting commentary about my appearance, character, how I am as a parent... Talking about how I was a heroin baby and how I grew up and dragging my dear mother into it also.' At the time, he also deactivated his social media accounts as a result of the trolling.

Last week, during an appearance on SiriusXM with Ben Harlum, Barry addressed the lasting impact of that very intense scrutiny. He admitted that he stopped wanting 'to go outside', and added that conversations about his looks are 'becoming a problem'. Discussing the darker side of celebrity, Barry said: "There’s also a nasty side of it. And I’ve 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, you know?"

He added: "There’s a lot of hate online. There’s a lot of abuse of how I look, and it’s kind of past the point of, 'Everyone goes through that.' And everyone does, but it’s made me shy away. It’s made me really go inside myself, not want to attend places, not want to go outside. And I say this being absolute pure and honest to you – it’s becoming a problem."

Barry also told the host that he finds the it overwhelming and has started 'hiding away' as a result, continuing: "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 want to even be on screen any more."