Robert Pattinson and FKA Twigs's Relationship Timeline: A Look Back

After meeting through mutual friends (though which mutual friends is still up for debate), actor Robert Pattinson and British singer-songwriter FKA Twigs (née Tahliah Barnett) started dating in 2014 and subsequently became engaged in 2015. However, the two never publicly confirmed their engagement, with the exception of Pattinson saying that he's "kind of" engaged on The Howard Stern Show in July 2017.

Though Twi-hards (slang for the fandom obsessed with the Twilight book series and films in which Pattinson starred) were desperate to hear every detail, Pattinson and Twigs both strived to keep their relationship as far out of the public eye as possible. Spoiler: It wasn't easy, or, well, possible. Though millions would argue this point, it's not easy to be in a relationship with Twilight's leading man. 

From the beginning, the couple was hounded by the paparazzi and The Batman star's legions of fans — and the attention was hardly positive. As a result, the couple called it quits in October 2017. 

Here's a look back at Robert Pattinson and FKA Twigs's relationship.

2014: Robert Pattinson and FKA Twigs first meet

There are conflicting theories on when Pattinson and Twigs first met. E! News reported that Pattinson went to see Twigs in concert in 2014 alongside Sienna Miller and Tom Sturridge (who were dating at the time). The Twilight alum was impressed, so Miller and Sturridge introduced him to the artist. 

However, in a 2015 interview with NME, the pair is described as meeting through mutual friend Florence Welch. (Keep in mind, Pattinson deliberately lies, as he admitted to in a 2022 profile story for GQ, where he said sometimes he makes "something up in an interview, in order to say anything at all." 

September 2014: Robert Pattinson and FKA Twigs are first spotted together

According to E! News, by September 2014, the pair were very much a couple when they were spotted on the Venice Beach boardwalk walking hand in hand.

Soon after her relationship with The Tenet actor went public, Twigs wrote on Twitter that she was "genuinely shocked and disgusted at the amount of racism" that she experienced on her account that week. Pattinson defended Twigs, describing her racist trolls to NME as "demons who live in basements."

The "Cellophane" songstress discussed the "vacuous attention" she received due to her relationship with Pattinson, which she explained to 

USA Today in November 2014 was "disgusting" and "like a hangover." Ugliness aside, she said the good outweighed the bad.

"The positivity that I get from [my relationship] makes the more challenging aspects ... very worth it," she said.

A few weeks later, Twigs told The Guardian, "That side of my life [the paparazzi] is nothing to do with me," she said, describing it as a "side of life of the man that I love." 

"It's something that's very challenging," she added of the paparazzi interference. "I look uncomfortable because I am uncomfortable. But then it's, like, is this person in my life worth that? And he is, without question. Do you know what I mean? In comparison to how happy I am. And how I feel with him. It's 100 percent worth it."

April 2015: Robert Pattinson and FKA Twigs get engaged

On April 1, 2015, Vulture published a Q&A with T-Pain. The artist mentioned being inspired by Twigs, and senior editor Dee Lockett followed up by asking if he was planning to work with the "Two Weeks" singer on his next album. As he was explaining Twigs's limited availability, he added, "And she's engaged now, so that's about to be a whole other thing." Pardon?

"Wait, she's engaged?" Lockett asked. 

T-Pain answered, seemingly noticing his misstep, "Yeah, to ol' Patty. I don't know if she wanted anybody to know that …"

The "Buy U a Drank" performer tried to cover his tracks when he shared the interview on Twitter, writing, "Added a little #AprilFools to my interview with @vulture today!" 

Unfortunately, it was too late, as People confirmed the news soon after. Still, both parties committed to maintaining privacy around the matter (though Twigs's left ring finger wasn't quite as discrete, according to E! News).

When asked about T-Pain's accidental admission, Twigs attempted to dodge the topic, telling COMPLEX, "It's fine, I'm a pretty chill person, do you know what I mean?"

That's as much as anyone really ever got on the engagement front. According to Vanity Fair, when the Sunday Times prodded later that summer, Twigs countered with, "Who told you I was getting married?" 

T-Pain, probably.

Pattinson maintained the charade as well. In 2017, shock jock Howard Stern asked the actor, "You're engaged, right?" 

With nowhere to hide, he answered, "Yeah, kind of," per CBS News.

April 2016: Robert Pattinson and FKA Twigs allegedly call off engagement

In April 2016, In Touch Weekly reported that Pattinson had called off the engagement. Breakup rumors were squashed the following week when the couple arrived together at the Met Gala (though the singer's pear-shaped diamond was nowhere to be seen). However, their relationship status appeared to have been confirmed, with Pattinson keeping fans on their toes. 

When asked if he was getting married, Pattinson gave GQ this one-word response in August 2017: "Eh." (Not much of an upgrade from "kind of" in regards to the engagement news.)

"It's one of the most frustrating things in the world, you want to be able to [be more open], but it's literally like, you get stuck in this position, but you have to make this decision whether you want to let the crazy people in," he told Stern, per People. "I mean basically, for whatever reason with Twilight — I don't know whether it is a specific thing with the audience — there's like a crack group of crazies that think every single decision you're making is either creating some kind of conspiracy …"

Pattinson continued, "To protect [the relationship], you kind of think, I want to create a big boundary between it. But then it makes it difficult for your actual relationship." 

Twigs previously told The New York Times in May 2015 that the public attention "makes you want to just stop everything sometimes" before adding, "It makes you want to smash your face into the mirror."

October 2017: Robert Pattinson and FKA Twigs break up

After dating for three years with plans to tie the knot, Pattinson and Twigs broke up. Sources told People that the door was open for reconciliation, but "timing" was a key factor in the split. 

"He is on a press tour, and she is working on her new album. And I think it's timing," another source reportedly said. "They've been all over the place. They have not seen each other in probably two months."

Twigs released her sophomore album Magdalene in November 2019, and fans and critics alike speculated that her split from Pattinson was a source of lyrical inspiration. 

"An incredible woman who was always in the shadow of a man ... I can relate," she told The Guardian of the album's namesake, Mary Magdalene. 

In 2021, Twigs recounted the racism she faced while dating Pattinson for an interview with BBC Radio 4's "Grounded with Louis Theroux," telling the host that people called her "the most hurtful and ignorant and horrible names on the planet."

"He was their white Prince Charming, and I think they considered that he should definitely be with someone white and blonde and not me," she said. "It was deeply unfair at the time that I was made to feel so self-conscious and so ugly. It was a lot. That period was a lot."