For much of 2023, eyes were on Anyone but You co-stars Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney, as they seemed quite flirty while promoting the film. Romance rumors swirled around the two friends, with both playing coy, but they later admitted to just leaning into the dynamic to sell the film. That all didn’t sit well with Gigi Paris, Powell’s girlfriend at the time, he opened up about the situation earlier this year. Now, Powell is addressing those comments and sharing the advice his friend Tom Cruise gave him.
Gigi Paris appeared on the Too Much Podcast this summer, during which she shared her perspective on the Anyone but You situation. During the interview, Paris said that she was “shattered” over having to watch the speculation surrounding her then-boyfriend and his co-star stoke up relationship rumors. The model said that she had to “walk away” after feeling disrespected by her former partner’s actions. Paris went on to say that she also felt wronged after her former beau and his co-star confirmed their “PR scheme.”
During a recent interview with GQ, Glen Powell discussed his former girlfriend’s comments. Powell didn’t back away from the notion that he needed to sell his hit 2023 romantic comedy, which grossed well over $100 million at the global box office. However, Powell, without explicitly naming his ex, also shared a perspective that runs counter to what she said:
I will always have nothing but love for her and respect for her. Everybody’s always going to have their own narrative on things and all that. And she’s welcome to it. Relationships are really hard. And when two people break up, they each go to their own brunch and they will each tell their own narrative.
As has been reported, the Hit Man star began dating Gigi Paris in 2020, and they publicly confirmed their romance in 2021. He and Sydney Sweeney began promoting Anyone but You in earnest at the 2023 iteration of CinemaCon, where they turned heads. As the film promotion went on, signs began to emerge that Paris had split from Powell, and that was seemingly confirmed when Paris shared a cryptic IG post in the spring of 2023. During that time, Sweeney was also notably engaged to Jonathan Davino, a key detail that added to the chatter. (Davino and Sweeney also broke up earlier this year.)
While Glen Powell navigates not just the fallout from the romance brouhaha but fame as a whole, he has at least one major star in his corner – Tom Cruise. Powell went on to explain to GQ that Cruise – who he famously worked with on Top Gun: Maverick – provided some sage advice, and it sounds like it really resonated with him:
He basically said, ‘Hey, it’s going to get really, really loud. It’s your job to just turn the volume down. Just remember you have your hand on that switch. You have your hand on the ability to turn up that noise or turn it down.’ And really just turning down the noise and trusting your own gut has been a real godsend for me.
Glen Powell has praised Tom Cruise as a mentor on multiple occasions and described how he’s learned so much from the Mission: Impossible icon. At this point, it feels like Powell’s approach to movies (and Hollywood in general) has been partially shaped by Cruise. So I’d imagine that whether it comes to the Sydney Sweeney publicity situation or any other fame-related matter, Powell is going to commit that advice to heart.
Fans of Glen Powell can check him out in his latest film, The Running Man, which opens in theaters on November 14 as part of the 2025 movie schedule.
