AceShowbiz - "Gladiator II" star Paul Mescal has become the subject of an outlandish, memeified rumor on TikTok, suggesting that he would take his dates on a walk in the park and then sprint away after a one-night stand. While Mescal and his siblings found the gossip absurdly funny, it had a less amusing impact on his mother.

"We were looking at the videos and we were pissing ourselves at it," Mescal told GQ in a recent profile. "Categorically untrue. And we were laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing."

However, he admitted his mother, Dearbhla Mescal, was visibly upset upon seeing the videos. "Isn't that devastating? I was like, Oh, it's funny to us - my brother, me, my sister - because we know that this is the way the internet works. It's hilarious. If it was true, it'd be f***ing bad, but as a rumor, it's funny."

Mescal continued, "Then I was like, Oh, if you're a mother, her impulse is to come out and be like, 'He wouldn't do this.' "

In the same interview, Mescal discussed how vital it is for him to maintain a robust boundary between his personal and public lives. He acknowledged the interest in his private affairs but stressed that this part of his life is not for public consumption.

"I've learned that there's certain lines in the sand now for me that just are going to be impenetrable for the benefit of my own sanity, but also the benefit of my work," he noted.

Mescal articulated the need for these boundaries, stating, "Because I think if you don't have those boundaries up in terms of lines in the sand in regards to your private life, people know way too much about you and then they can't invest in the imagined landscape of your character because they know what your favorite thing to eat for breakfast is."

The actor, who gained global fame for his role in "Normal People," has kept his romantic relationships under wraps since. He remarked, "I mean, the speculation has been kind of mad for the last X amount of years. I'm not comfortable inviting any access into that part of my life. How I am in my private life is so precious to me because I get very little of it, and it might be public interest, but it's not public-obligated information."

Even as Mescal prepares for the heightened visibility that will come with "Gladiator II," he remains committed to safeguarding his private life. Reflecting on the project, he said, "I know Gladiator is by far and away the biggest thing I've done in terms of a public-facing responsibility, and the amount of people that are going to get to it. But I think I've now built in personal infrastructure where I know the map of what I want to be as an actor. So it's not the be-all and end-all."