Married couple Taylor Lautner and Tay Lautner were recently guests on The Toast Podcast, where they talked about confusion over their names and the Twilight Saga fan discourse over which boy Bella (Kristen Stewart) should choose.
The Twilight Saga spanned from the first movie in 2008 to the last in 2012 and was based on the book series by Stephanie Meyers. When the movies were coming out, there was a lot of rivalry between Edward (Robert Pattinson) fans and Jacob (Taylor Lautner) fans, with fans calling themselves either “Team Edward” or “Team Jacob.”
Funnily enough, Taylor Lautner’s now wife, Tay Lautner, was part of “Team Edward.”
“I’m fine with it,” Taylor said on the podcast, referencing his wife’s allegiance with Edward. “Because one, I feel like I’ve converted her… But if I’m being honest, I hadn’t seen the movies… in almost ten years.”
Taylor described how one day he was bored at his hotel while his wife was at work, scrolling through TV, when he found The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) was on and thought “Yeah, why not?” He watched almost the entirety of the saga back-to-back.
“And as I was watching it, I was like, I kind of get it. Jacob’s a little annoying… Like, I love Jacob and his heart, but he’s a little annoying.”
When asked if the original discourse ever got to Taylor, he answered, “I feel like I’d be lying if I said no… I was so young. I was sixteen when Twilight came out… I finished the franchise by the time I was nineteen.”
Taylor described the strange feeling of traveling to different cities worldwide and having thousands of screaming fans “either taking your side or the other guy’s side.”
“And like, we’re (him and Pattinson) a team. Like we’re both trying to make the best movies… But it was a little bizarre, the competitiveness, and there wasn’t a competitiveness between me and Rob. But having that constant reminder definitely… had an impact.”
Taylor further described how he felt he was not in tune with his mental health before meeting his wife.
“I think I was dealing with stuff that I couldn’t even put my finger on… I think it took you know meeting Tay and us just having great intentional conversations together both ways… having a safe place where you know I felt okay being like ‘you know what I’m not okay, I probably am dealing with some stuff that started when I was sixteen years old and now, I’m thirty and still haven’t addressed it.’”
