The veteran actor tells the U.K.'s Daily Star newspaper he was living at the pad rent-free, thanks to his close friendship with the moviemaker, when it was sold to Swift.

He says, "Taylor Swift bought it while I was there and I was thrown out of the apartment a month before I wanted to leave."

But MCKellen insists he understood he had to move out, adding, "She bought it, she’s every right to take it over; I was just lodging there for free."

The X-Men star and Swift have now become unlikely social media pals after he and fellow thespian Sir Patrick Stewart read her lyrics as poetry during a radio interview earlier this year (15). He and Stewart were also invited to one of her recent Los Angeles shows after lip-syncing to her songs and posting the video online.

Both actors had other commitments and had to turn down the pop star's offer to join her celebrity "squad". MCKellen adds, "I had something else to do that night."