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Barry Keoghan is making a heartfelt appeal for more kindness on the internet.
The actor shared that he retreated from the public eye following his breakup with Sabrina Carpenter, which triggered a wave of online bullying.
During an appearance on SiriusXM’s “The Morning Mash Up” on Friday, Keoghan expressed, “There’s a lot of hate online. It’s a lot of abuse about my appearance.”
He elaborated on his decision to step back from social media, saying, “I think I removed myself from online, but I’m still a curious human being who wants to see how things are received if I attend an event or go somewhere. And it’s not nice.”
The Irish actor also confessed that the relentless harassment has led him to avoid public events altogether.
“It’s becoming a problem,” Keoghan confessed. “I don’t have to hide away because I am hiding away. I don’t have to go to places because 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 even want to be on screen anymore.”
The “Saltburn” actor is also afraid of how the noise will impact his 3-year-old son, Brando, whom he shares with his ex-girlfriend Alyson Sandro.
“It is disappointing for the fans, but it’s also disappointing that my little boy has to read all of this stuff when he gets older,” he stated.
However, Keoghan can also see the bright side when it comes to his fans.
“I’ve been blessed that I have an incredible fanbase and people are so lovely out there, you know?” he reflected. “And it’s really nice when you do Q&A’s and you talk to people and you can be there with them and answer their questions and just give them all of you.”
As he put it, “That is the good side of it.”
However, Keoghan remains booked and busy, recently starring in the Netflix movie, “Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man,” and he’s set to portray Ringo Starr in the upcoming Sam Mendes-directed biopic.
Despite continued online hate, Keoghan, 33, and Carpenter, 26, called it quits back in December 2024 after one year of dating.
At the time, an insider 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 that year, People reported that the pair’s relationship was “on and off.”
The exes were first romantically linked in December 2023 after they were spotted on a dinner date in Los Angeles.
They seemingly confirmed their romance one month later after an eyewitness saw them sharing a “little kiss” while visiting an interactive museum in LA.
Although they shied away from publicly discussing their relationship, Keoghan and Carpenter supported one another’s career endeavors.
The actor went on to star in the pop star’s “Please Please Please” music video.
Carpenter reflected on her decision to cast him as her love interest while speaking with “CBS Sunday Morning” in October 2024.
“I, genuinely — like, a not-even-biased opinion — I was like, ‘Who’s the greatest actor that I can find for this music video?’” she recalled. “And he was next to me in a chair. And he was so excited about it!”
The following month, Keoghan sang Carpenter’s praises during an appearance on “The Louis Theroux Podcast.”
“I’m incredibly blessed. [She is] such a strong, independent lady who is massively talented and pretty special,” he gushed.