Taylor Lautner Says Robert Pattinson Is the 'Sweetest' but They 'Never Really Connected': 'We're Different'

The actor said he and Pattinson "were always able to" handle the Team Edward vs. Team Jacob discourse, but never "connected on a deep level"

Taylor Lautner, Robert Pattinson
Taylor Lautner in Nashville on April 11, 2022; Robert Pattinson in New York City on March 1, 2022. Photo:

Jeff Kravitz/Getty, Cindy Ord/WireImage

Taylor Lautner is opening up about his dynamic with former Twilight costar Robert Pattinson.

The actor, now 31, appeared on the latest episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast alongside his wife Taylor Dome Lautner, where he addressed the Team Edward vs. Team Jacob rivalry among fans.

Asked how he and Pattinson, 37, handled the "rivalry" at the time, Lautner told host Alex Cooper, "I think it was tough. I don't know for him, but for me at least it definitely — especially at the age I was at, you get your feelings hurt sometimes when you shouldn't. But it's hard not to sometimes."

He went on to say despite the "difficult" and "awkward" nature of the Pattinson/Edward vs. Lautner/Jacob debate, "Rob and I were always able to [handle it]," despite being "very, very different people."

"We never really connected on a deep level, just because we're different humans," Lautner explained. "But he was always fantastic and the sweetest person ever."

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THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (2012) (L-R) KRISTEN STEWART, MACKENZIE FOY, ROBERT PATTINSON and TAYLOR LAUTNER
Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Foy, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (2012).

Andrew Cooper/Summit

This isn't the first time Lautner has addressed how the Team Edward vs. Team Jacob discourse affected him and Pattinson, both back in Twilight's heyday and the present.

"I was so young," Lautner recalled in February on The Toast podcast. "I was 16 when Twilight came out, 17 for New Moon and Eclipse. I finished the franchise by the time I was 19."

He went on to describe the "very strange" feeling he had while "traveling the world and being in different cities and having thousands of screaming fans either take your side or the other guy's side."

"Like, we're a team. We're both just trying to make the best movies … but it was a little bizarre, the competitiveness," Lautner said. "There wasn't a competitiveness between me and Rob, but having that constant reminder, it definitely had an impact."

Lautner portrayed werewolf Jacob Black in all five Twilight Saga movies, completing the series' primary love triangle opposite Kristen Stewart as human-turned-vampire Bella Swan and Pattinson as vampire Edward Cullen.

 Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner attend the UK premiere of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 at Westfield Stratford City on November 16, 2011 in London, England.
Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner in London on Nov. 16, 2011.

Fred Duval/FilmMagic

Even Lautner's wife was once Team Edward! In a video posted on her Instagram feed in July 2022, his wife Tay, 26, participated in the "show your childhood crush and then the person you ended up with" trend.

The video went on to display images of Pattinson as Edward before showing her then-fiancé. "I think it's time to come clean… " she wrote in the caption.

Lautner playfully chimed in on the comments section, "Bout time I won something."

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