Actor Taylor Lautner is finally speaking out about the time that Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift at the MTV 2009 Video Music Awards.
The “Twilight” alum hosts a podcast called The Squeeze with his wife, Taylor Dome, who he wed last November.
Although the couple discussed a wide range of issues, including body dysmorphia, Lautner also opened up about the viral pop culture incident that shocked the nation.
Taylor Lautner Finally Opens Up About Kanye West Interrupting Taylor Swift
During a recent episode of the podcast, the 30-year-old actor reflected on the viral incident at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
During their conversation, Dome asked her husband which career moment he would choose to relive. She clearly didn’t expect him to recall the incident that took place approximately fourteen years ago, when the “Donda” rapper interrupted Swift’s “You Belong With Me” speech to declare that Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” music video was “one of the best videos of all time.”
Lautner and the “Anti-Hero” singer were linked for just a few months, between August and December of 2009, but they happened to be dating when the incident took place. To add insult to injury, Lautner was the one who presented the award to Swift on stage and was standing behind her watching the whole thing go down without intervening.
Fans might recall that, as Swift was giving her speech, Kanye took the stage, grabbed the microphone, and said, “Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’mma let you finish. But Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time.”
Taylor Said He Thought The Viral Moment Was A ‘Skit’
At the time, Taylor Lautner, as well as many watching at home, thought that Kanye’s intrusion was an act.
However, looking back, Lautner told his wife, “I was unaware the Kanye thing was not a skit.” He explained that, from his perspective, he had just given Swift her award and stepped back to let her have her space.
“In the middle of giving her thank-you speech, Kanye jumps up onto the stage,” Lautner explained. “I can barely hear it. I can’t see them. I’m just assuming that this whole thing was a practiced and rehearsed skit. Because why else would Kanye West be jumping up on the stage, interrupting Taylor Swift? It just didn’t make sense.”
Although many people were focused on Ye and Taylor’s reaction, Lautner admitted that eagle-eyed fans can catch him laughing in the background.
“If you look back at it, I’m actually caught, like, laughing, giggling at him,” he admitted. Lautner said he couldn’t actually hear the exchange, but he remembered thinking, “‘I can’t hear them, but this is probably really funny right now.'”
Unfortunately, when his then-girlfriend turned around, he quickly discovered that the “skit” was real.
Lautner recalled, “He jumped off, she finished… the second she turned back around and I saw her face for the first time, I was like, ‘Oh. No, that wasn’t good.'”
Later that night, Beyoncé won the Video of the Year for “Single Ladies,” and invited the “Lavender Haze” singer back on stage to finish her acceptance speech.
It is widely speculated that Swift’s song, “Innocent” is about her forgiving Ye for the incident; however, she has never confirmed this directly.
Taylor Lautner Opens Up On Insecurities About His Appearance
Elsewhere in the podcast, Taylor Lautner, who played Jacob Black in the “Twilight” franchise, admitted to struggling with the way he viewed his physical appearance.
“You need to get to a place where you realize that how your body and your body looks doesn’t say anything about you as a person, because there’s a flip side too,” Lautner explained.
“Because your body can be unbelievable, you can be ripped, shredded, whatever, you can lose weight, you can put on muscle, and if you’re not healthy mentally, then that’s all for nothing because that can work against you,” he continued.
“There are two totally different sides to it, and I think that was the thing I needed to learn,” he went on. “Because for so long, I told myself, if I get my body back to where I want it to be, then I’m going to be happy again.”
Lautner continued to say that he mistakenly thought that he thought he would automatically become “super happy” when he reached the physical shape he wanted to be in.
