Barry Keoghan is asking the internet to “please be kinder”.
The actor revealed he went into hiding after his breakup with Sabrina Carpenter led to a ton of online bullying.
“There’s a lot of hate online. It’s a lot of abuse against my appearance,” Cogan said on SiriusXM’s “The Morning Mash Up” on Friday.
“I think I’ve distanced myself from online, but I’m still a curious person who wants to stay active, and when I go to an event or go somewhere, I want to know how it’s going to be received,” he continued. “And that’s not good.”
The Irish star even admitted that he had avoided appearing in public due to the constant harassment.
“It’s becoming a problem,” Kogan confessed. “I’m hiding, so I don’t have to hide. I don’t actually go to those places for these things, so I don’t have to go to those places. But when that starts to leak into your art, it becomes a problem, because then you don’t even want to be on screen anymore.”
The Saltburn actor also fears how the noise will affect his three-year-old son Brando, who he shares with ex-girlfriend Alison Sandro.
“It’s a shame for the fans, but it’s also a shame that my little son has to read all this stuff when he grows up,” he said.
But Corgan can also see the bright side when it comes to fans.
“I’m blessed because I have an incredible fan base and the people around me are so nice,” he reflected. “And when we do Q&As and talk to people, it’s really nice to be there with them and answer their questions and just be able to tell them everything.”
As he says, “That’s the good side.”
But Keoghan remains booked and busy, most recently starring in the Netflix film Peaky Blinders and set to play Ringo Starr in Sam Mendes’ new biopic.
Despite continued hate online, Corgan, 33, and Carpenter, 26, called it quits in December 2024 after a year of dating.
At the time, a source told People that the “Espresso” singer and “Crime 101” star “decided to take a break.”
“They are both young and career-focused,” the source said.
In August of the same year, People magazine reported that their relationship was “on and off.”
The former lovers first became romantically involved in December 2023 when they were spotted on a dinner date in Los Angeles.
A month later, the pair apparently confirmed their romance when an onlooker spotted them sharing a “little kiss” while visiting an interactive museum in Los Angeles.
Although Corgan and Carpenter avoided speaking publicly about their relationship, they supported each other’s career endeavors.
The actor later appeared in the pop star’s “Please Please Please Please” music video.
In an interview with CBS Sunday Morning in October 2024, Carpenter reflected on his decision to cast her as the love interest.
“I thought, really, in my unbiased opinion, ‘Who’s the greatest actor you can find in this music video?'” she recalled. “And he was sitting in the chair next to me, and he was so excited about it!”
The following month, Corgan appeared on the “Louis Theroux Podcast” and praised Carpenter.
“I’m incredibly blessed.[She]is a very talented, very special, very strong, independent woman,” he exclaimed.
