Jake Gyllenhaal Opens Up About Being Legally Blind, Taylor Swift Fans Make "All Too Well" Connection

Jake Gyllenhaal has 20/1250 vision when not wearing corrective lenses, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter this week.

This is far below the threshold for being considered legally blind, which is 20/200, with Gyllenhaal having had to wear intensive corrective glasses and contact lenses at all times since he was a child. (It's worth pointing out that legal blindness is defined as a person having less than 20/200 vision even when wearing corrective lenses.)

Speaking to THR, the actor explained that his vision impairment has often been a good thing for him, like at times when he's taken out his lenses while filming in order to listen with more focus to the scene. "I like to think it’s advantageous," he said. "I’ve never known anything else. When I can’t see in the morning, before I put on my glasses, it’s a place where I can be with myself."

But these references to what the Reporter calls Gyllenhaal's "I Literally Can’t See glasses" haven't escaped Taylor Swift fans' attention.

These semi-professional Swiftie sleuths immediately picked up on these comments and linked them to a specific line in "All Too Well," which goes, "You used to be a little kid with glasses in a twin-sized bed."

"All Too Well," as well as Red, the album on which it appears, have long been thought to be about Swift's brief relationship with Gyllenhaal circa 2010-11.

"All Too Well" is thought to be a particularly scathing summary of their relationship, with many clues embedded in the lyrics. When Swift released the 10-minute version of the song in 2021, she also released a music video in which an actor was made to look uncannily like Gyllenhaal, with a beanie and a beard.

YouTube

Watch On

It's not the first time Swifties have made this particular link.

In 2020, the Nightcrawler star posted a picture of himself as a child with glasses on Instagram, and his comment section was positively swarmed with "All Too Well" lyrics, as reported by Marie Claire at the time.

According to a fan on X, Gyllenhaal deleted that photo around the time Swift released the new version of the song.