Inside Matty Healy and Taylor Swift's romance as 1975 star gets engaged

Matty Healy has announced his engagement to model and musician Gabbriette Bechtel, sharing a picture of her stunning engagement ring - a black diamond that he had specially made for her. The 1975 singer, 34, started dating Gabriette last September.

Gabbriette, 26, shared a photo of the stunning piece on her left hand and captioned it: "Marrying The 1975 is very brat @trumanblack", which Matty then reposted on his own Instagram profile. The engagement was confirmed by Matty's mother, actress Denise Welch, this Wednesday.

She revealed: "I have known for a few weeks that Matty got engaged. They went over to see their friends Charli and George in New York. I woke up this morning to the fact they've put it on Instagram. Instagram official, he has got engaged to Gabbriette. Black diamond, he had it made for her and I couldn't be more thrilled."

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Denise added: "She is from Los Angeles, she is absolutely gorgeous she has a rat. We couldn't be happier, she is everything that I would want in a daughter-in-law", reports the Irish Mirror.

Who exactly is Gabbriette Bechtel?

Gabbriette caught Matty's eye last September and the two have been an item since. She's the frontwoman of the punk rock outfit Nasty Cherry.

This new chapter comes after Matty's brief encounter with global superstar Taylor Swift. Meanwhile, Taylor, now 34, is reportedly in a relationship with Kansas City Chiefs' Travis Kelce and has recently opened up about her tumultuous time with Matty through her music.

Fans had speculated that Taylor's latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, would delve into her six-year relationship with ex-beau Joe Alwyn. However, it seems many of the songs hint at her brief fling with Matty.

The pair were first linked nearly a decade ago and dated from May to early June last year. Rumours of a romance between the two started swirling back in 2014 when Taylor attended one of his band's gigs. He later confessed to swapping numbers with the American singer.

The duo was spotted alongside Ellie Goulding and Nick Grimshaw at the Universal Music Brits party in February 2015, adding fuel to the rumour mill. In 2016, Matty dismissed any romantic involvement with Taylor, stating it would be "emasculating" to date her. He later expressed "a lot of respect and admiration for her" following backlash.

In November 2022, it emerged they had collaborated on a track for her Midnights album, but the song didn't make the final cut. Fast forward to January 2023, Taylor gave a surprise performance of Anti-Hero live for the first time at The 1975's London gig. In May 2023, less than a month after news of Taylor and Joe's split surfaced, reports claimed the singer had moved on with the 1975 frontman.

The romance between Taylor and Matty took fans by surprise, with the singers seeming extremely infatuated. Just two days after the news of their relationship broke, Matty hopped on a flight from the Philippines to watch his new beau perform in Nashville.

Later that month, pictures surfaced of the couple hand-in-hand during a dinner date in New York City. An onlooker even mentioned they were "cuddling and kissing". Speculations arose that the pair were sharing heartfelt messages on stage based on footage where they appear to mouth the same loving expressions at respective gigs one night apart.

Swift's fanbase was somewhat divided about her liaison with the frontman, considering his past controversies - most notably, a dispute involving Ice Spice, a pal of Taylors. At one point, Matty was spotted enjoying Taylor's show alongside her father, leading insiders to state they were "inseparable". However, their love story ended by June 2023 when sources disclosed to ET that they weren't "really compatible with each other".

Taylor seemingly hinted at reasons for their split through a collection of enigmatic lyrics featured in her most recent album. In her song 'But Daddy I Love Him', she appears to chastise fans for their "sanctimonious" criticisms of their relationship, while 'The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived' hints at being ghosted by the singer. "Was any of it true? Gazing at me starry-eyed in your Jehovah's Witness suit," she crooned.

"Who the f*** was that guy? You tried to buy some pills from a friend of friends of mine. They just ghosted you. Now you know what it feels like."

Matty is renowned for his suited stage performances and has previously spoken candidly about his struggles with substance abuse. In other tracks, such as 'I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)', Taylor lambasts the "revolting" humour of the man she loves, and in 'loml', she muses on reigniting a past love that disintegrated as swiftly as it rekindled.

A close acquaintance of Matty disclosed to US Weekly earlier this week that the singer harbours "mixed feelings" about the album. The insider reportedly stated: "He loves the attention it's brought to him, [but] he also thinks it's hilarious because at no time [were they] ever serious."

They added that Matty was "blindsided" by Taylor's lyrics portraying their relationship as rock solid.