Paul Mescal finally responds to bizarre rumour that he ditches dates in the park

Paul Mescal has finally responded to the strange TikTok rumours about his dating habits - and has even explained what his mum thought of it all. Netizens will remember that earlier this year, a bizarre story began to circulate on social media claiming that the Normal People star would take his one-night stands for a lovely morning walk in the park, before suddenly running off in the opposite direction.

While the videos gained traction online, Paul has remained quiet about the rumours. However, in a recent interview for GQ, the Gladiator actor decided to shut down the weird tales once and for all. In fact, he admitted that he found the rumours hilarious at first - but his mum, on the other hand, was less than impressed.

Explaining that he watched the clips with his family, he told the publication: "We were looking at the videos and we were p****** ourselves at it. Categorically untrue. And we were laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing… And the one thing that upset me was that I was in the kitchen, I remember my mum looking at the videos and she was getting upset. Isn’t that devastating?"

He added: "I was like, 'Oh, it’s funny to us—my brother, me, my sister—because we know that this is the way the internet works.' It’s hilarious. If it was true, it’d be f****** bad, but as a rumour, it’s funny. Then I was like, 'Oh, if you’re a mother, her impulse is to come out and be like, 'He wouldn’t do this'."

The Academy Award-nominated actor has most recently been linked to singer Gracie Abrams. The pair were first spotted together in June, and earlier this month Paul was seen dancing at her gig in New York City with a source telling PEOPLE that 'they're going strong'. However, in the same cover interview with GQ, Paul declined to talk about his relationship status, explaining: "I've learned that there’s certain lines in the sand now for me that just are going to be impenetrable for the benefit of my own sanity. The speculation has been kind of mad for the last x amount of years. I’m not comfortable inviting any access into that part of my life."

He added: "How I am in my private life is so precious to me because I get very little of it, and it might be public interest, but it’s not public-obligated information."

So, that's that!