Gracie Abrams Rejects Claims Paul Mescal Has Hurt Her Career
LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 22: Gracie Abrams and Paul Mescal attend the EE BAFTA Film Awards 2026 at The Royal Festival Hall on February 22, 2026 in London, England. Photo Credit: Dominic Lipinski
by Chris Tremblay Aug 6
3 MIN READ
Gracie Abrams has rejected the idea that dating Paul Mescal has damaged or threatened her career, criticizing the way earlier comments about her relationship and songwriting were reframed online.
In a Rolling Stone cover interview published Tuesday, Abrams said she was surprised by the number of follow-up stories presenting her relationship with Mescal as a professional liability.
The singer-songwriter reportedly reacted to those headlines by asking, “Are we on crack? Like, what the f—?” before saying the reaction reminded her why she avoids looking at social media.
Abrams was referring to coverage that interpreted an earlier comment about feeling secure in her relationship as evidence that Mescal himself had obstructed her creative ambitions.
Her clarification was direct: Abrams said the relationship had not taken away her ability to write or pursue her career, but had provided a new emotional perspective from which to make music.
The online discussion followed an interview with Vogue published in June, in which Abrams described feeling uncertain about how a stable relationship might affect her songwriting.
“I was worried feeling secure and stable was threatening my drive to write music,” Abrams told Vogue, adding, “It freaked me out.”
Abrams’s concern, as described in the earlier interview, was about her own unfamiliarity with writing from within a relationship defined by security and love.
Coverage of the remarks subsequently used formulations suggesting that Mescal had nearly “ruined” or threatened Abrams’s career, although the original comments focused on the creative challenge of moving beyond the heartbreak and uncertainty that had often informed her work.
In the Rolling Stone interview, Abrams said she stood by what she had told Vogue but objected to the interpretation that her partner had interfered with her professional life.
Abrams described the effect of her relationship with Mescal in strongly positive terms.
“It’s had the most amazing effect on my writing,” she said, according to Rolling Stone.
Abrams said the relationship had given her “the most amount of space to reflect on everything” in her life and had helped her reconsider earlier relationships, family dynamics and friendships.
She characterized that perspective as “the greatest gift, period.”
The comments position Abrams’s creative concern as a question of artistic subject matter rather than a claim that Mescal had limited her career.
Abrams has also discussed the relationship in connection with her album *Daughter From Hell*, which includes “Imaginary Friend,” a song she co-wrote with Mescal.
She has described making music with Mescal as natural, citing the couple’s shared musical environment and their familiarity with each other.
The clarification comes as Abrams promotes *Daughter From Hell*, her third studio album.
Rolling Stone reported on July 26 that the album had become Abrams’s first number-one album.
The record includes contributions from Aaron Dessner of The National, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Abrams’s longtime collaborator Audrey Hobert and Mescal.
The album’s commercial performance does not, by itself, establish the extent to which Abrams’s relationship has influenced her career, but it provides contemporaneous evidence that the release has achieved a major professional milestone.
Abrams’s remarks also reflect the broader tension between public interest in celebrity relationships and artists’ efforts to define their work on their own terms.
The Express Tribune reported that Abrams discussed not only Mescal and songwriting but also the pressure of public attention and her mental health during the latest interview.
Abrams has previously acknowledged that public scrutiny can be difficult, while Mescal has also expressed a preference for keeping aspects of his personal life private.
The pair were first publicly linked after being seen together in London in 2024, and they have since become more open about their relationship while continuing to limit the details they share.
Abrams’s latest comments draw a distinction between the public narrative surrounding her relationship and her own account of its effect on her work.
She has not said that Mescal harmed her career or prevented her from creating music; rather, she has said that the security of the relationship initially made her question how she would write and ultimately gave her more material for reflection.
Her response therefore addresses the accuracy of the headlines, not simply the existence of public interest in her relationship.
For now, Abrams’s stated view is that her relationship with Mescal has broadened rather than diminished her creative life.
The singer-songwriter reportedly reacted to those headlines by asking, “Are we on crack? Like, what the f—?” before saying the reaction reminded her why she avoids looking at social media.
Abrams was referring to coverage that interpreted an earlier comment about feeling secure in her relationship as evidence that Mescal himself had obstructed her creative ambitions.
Her clarification was direct: Abrams said the relationship had not taken away her ability to write or pursue her career, but had provided a new emotional perspective from which to make music.
What Abrams originally said
The online discussion followed an interview with Vogue published in June, in which Abrams described feeling uncertain about how a stable relationship might affect her songwriting.
“I was worried feeling secure and stable was threatening my drive to write music,” Abrams told Vogue, adding, “It freaked me out.”
Abrams’s concern, as described in the earlier interview, was about her own unfamiliarity with writing from within a relationship defined by security and love.
Coverage of the remarks subsequently used formulations suggesting that Mescal had nearly “ruined” or threatened Abrams’s career, although the original comments focused on the creative challenge of moving beyond the heartbreak and uncertainty that had often informed her work.
In the Rolling Stone interview, Abrams said she stood by what she had told Vogue but objected to the interpretation that her partner had interfered with her professional life.
A relationship that Abrams says expanded her writing
Abrams described the effect of her relationship with Mescal in strongly positive terms.
“It’s had the most amazing effect on my writing,” she said, according to Rolling Stone.
Abrams said the relationship had given her “the most amount of space to reflect on everything” in her life and had helped her reconsider earlier relationships, family dynamics and friendships.
She characterized that perspective as “the greatest gift, period.”
The comments position Abrams’s creative concern as a question of artistic subject matter rather than a claim that Mescal had limited her career.
Abrams has also discussed the relationship in connection with her album *Daughter From Hell*, which includes “Imaginary Friend,” a song she co-wrote with Mescal.
She has described making music with Mescal as natural, citing the couple’s shared musical environment and their familiarity with each other.
The album and the public conversation
The clarification comes as Abrams promotes *Daughter From Hell*, her third studio album.
Rolling Stone reported on July 26 that the album had become Abrams’s first number-one album.
The record includes contributions from Aaron Dessner of The National, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Abrams’s longtime collaborator Audrey Hobert and Mescal.
The album’s commercial performance does not, by itself, establish the extent to which Abrams’s relationship has influenced her career, but it provides contemporaneous evidence that the release has achieved a major professional milestone.
Abrams’s remarks also reflect the broader tension between public interest in celebrity relationships and artists’ efforts to define their work on their own terms.
The Express Tribune reported that Abrams discussed not only Mescal and songwriting but also the pressure of public attention and her mental health during the latest interview.
Abrams has previously acknowledged that public scrutiny can be difficult, while Mescal has also expressed a preference for keeping aspects of his personal life private.
The pair were first publicly linked after being seen together in London in 2024, and they have since become more open about their relationship while continuing to limit the details they share.
Abrams’s position
Abrams’s latest comments draw a distinction between the public narrative surrounding her relationship and her own account of its effect on her work.
She has not said that Mescal harmed her career or prevented her from creating music; rather, she has said that the security of the relationship initially made her question how she would write and ultimately gave her more material for reflection.
Her response therefore addresses the accuracy of the headlines, not simply the existence of public interest in her relationship.
For now, Abrams’s stated view is that her relationship with Mescal has broadened rather than diminished her creative life.
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