Sabrina Carpenter Plays Coy on Barry Keoghan Romance amid Split Whispers as She Calls Him 'Such a Great Actor'

• Sabrina Carpenter spoke about Barry Keoghan in a new interview amid rumors of a breakup
• "I’m very honored and I got to work with such a great actor," she told The Guardian
• A source recently told PEOPLE the couple is "on and off"

Sabrina Carpenter is playing coy when it comes to the status of her relationship with Barry Keoghan.

The “Espresso” singer, 25, went public with the Oscar-nominated actor, 31, in March — but in recent weeks, they’ve been rumored to have hit the brakes on their romance.

In a new interview with The Guardian, Carpenter praised working with Keoghan — who starred in her “Please Please Please” music video — as “one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.”

“I’m very honored and I got to work with such a great actor,” she told the outlet, with the reporter noting Carpenter then scrunched her face, mocked her own “coy diplomacy" and repeated that he's “such a great actor” in a mocking voice.

The star — whom a source recently told PEOPLE is “on and off” with Keoghan — continued, explaining that while she’s not a fan of the public knowing intimate details of her personal life, she recognizes it’s par for the course.

“It’s not what I signed up for, but I can’t really help when I was born. I want to be honest — I want to just write about what’s happening in my life as a 25-year-old girl,” she said. “But it comes with the territory and I just have to be like… OK!”

Keoghan starred in the video, released in June, as an inmate Carpenter’s character desperately wanted to sort through his issues and “act like a stand-up guy.”

In a recent interview with Variety, she was more effusive in her praise of Keoghan’s work on the video, saying he was “obsessed with the lyrics, and I’m so grateful for that.”

“I don't want to sound biased, but I think he’s one of the best actors of this generation,” she said. “So getting to see him on the screen with my song as the soundtrack made the video better and all the more special.”

The pair first sparked dating rumors in December after they were spotted on a dinner date in Los Angeles. In February, they appeared publicly together at a Grammy Awards afterparty and were later seen kissing leaving a hotel in Los Angeles. The following month, they made their red carpet debut as a couple at the Vanity Fair Oscars afterparty.

On Aug. 16, Keoghan seemingly responded to breakup rumors by liking Carpenter’s flirty Instagram post, which showed her posing in baby blue lingerie.

In June, she alluded to having an undefined relationship in an interview with Rolling Stone, asking how she could “skirt around this question” when asked if she calls Keoghan her boyfriend.

"The [dating] pool is the pool, and when you meet people that feel authentic and are so brilliant and amazing in every way, that’s what you do. Obviously, I write songs about exactly how I feel, so I guess I can’t be so surprised that people are interested in who and what those songs are about. That’s something that comes with the territory.”

Carpenter's new album, Short n' Sweet, hit shelves on Aug. 23.