‘Incredibly blessed’: Barry Keoghan blushes bright red while discussing Sabrina Carpenter relationship

Barry Keoghan made a rare comment about his relationship with Sabrina Carpenter for the first time since rumors that the two maintained an on-and-off relationship surfaced last August.

Keoughan was a guest on the third season of Louis Theroux’s podcast in an episode recorded in September but published only Tuesday. The Irish actor and the British-American journalist discussed endless topics from the murmurs surrounding Keoghan’s relationship with his son to the actor’s process and filmography. When it was time to wrap up the interview, there was only one subject left to broach: Keoghan’s high-profile romance with one of the biggest pop stars of the year.

“Are we talking about Sabrina or not?” Theroux asked tentatively, receiving only a grunt and a shrug from his interviewee. Since it was not a direct no, he moved in. “Are you in a relationship with Sabrina Carpenter?” At this point, Keoghan was visibly flustered, and more bashful than he had been while discussing anything else throughout the one-hour chat.

“Oh, I knew you’d do this! Listen, uhm, all I’m going to say is, yeah, I’m incredibly blessed — such a strong, independent lady, who’s massively talented and, yeah, very special. Louis, you got me.”

That may not seem like a lot, but it’s one of the most direct statements either of the lovebirds has made about their relationship. In August, just two months after Keoghan played the jailbird boyfriend in Carpenter’s music video for her earworm chart-topping track “Please Please Please,” rumors emerged that the two had broken up.

They first sparked dating speculation in December of last year after being spotted together out and about in Los Angeles a few times. By March, they had made their red carpet debut at the Vanity Fair Oscars afterparty, followed by an Alice In Wonderland-themed appearance at the Met Gala in May. It didn’t take long until they became everyone’s new favorite celebrity couple.

The conversation with Theroux soon pivoted to Keoghan’s workout regime after the host complimented his guest’s looks in the Carpenter clip. “Great video, great music,” the actor gushed. The fling that presumably inspired the singer’s “Bed Chem” track from her latest album, in which she describes her first meeting with the actor during Paris Fashion Week, is back on. “‘Bed Chem’ my fave, just sayin’ m’darlin,” the 32-year-old lauded on his Instagram page when Carpenter dropped Short n’ Sweet.

Keoghan was recently spotted attending Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet Tour stop in Virginia, where he sang along to all of her songs and received a special shout-out from his “special” lady. “I hear you knockin’, Barry, come on up,” the 25-year-old appeared to sing, swapping “baby” for her significant other’s name during her rendition of “Juno” — another track rumored to be about the Saltburn actor.

The distance may have played a part in the pair’s rumored brief split as Carpenter has spent the last two months hopping from one city to the other across the United States and Canada on her sold-out Arena tour, while Keoghan has been busy filming the upcoming Peaky Blinders movie in the U.K. With the pop star’s tour moving to Europe next year, could the pair find the time to rekindle their romance? We’d bet on “yes,” if Barry’s red-cheeked compliments are any indication.