Taylor Swift penned an incredibly vulnerable prologue for her upcoming album, 1989 (Taylor’s Version), in which she opens up about her sexuality and dating history.
After years of remaining silent over conspiracy theories that she had a romantic relationship with her former best friend, Karlie Kloss, the singer, 33, alluded to the persistent rumors as she called out the public for sexualizing her female friendships.
As she looked back at her life at 24, as she prepared to make the leap from a country artist to pop star, the 12-time Grammy winner explained she was desperate to ‘silence’ the voices shaming her for ‘dating like a normal young woman.’
After years of becoming a ‘target of’ relentless ‘slut shaming’ and enduring endless jokes about the ‘amount of boyfriends’ she had, Swift explained being painted as a ‘boy crazy psychopath’ was ‘really starting to hurt.’
Speaking up: Taylor Swift penned an incredibly vulnerable prologue for her upcoming album, 1989 (Taylor’s Version), in which she opens up about her sexuality and dating history; seen earlier this month
Just friends: After years of remaining silent over conspiracy theories that she had a romantic relationship with her former best friend, Karlie Kloss , the singer, 33, alluded to the persistent rumors as she called out the public for sexualizing her female friendships
‘It became clear to me that for me there was no such thing as casual dating, or even having a male friend who you platonically hang out with,’ she wrote.
The Cardigan hitmaker continued: ”If I was seen with him, it was assumed I was sleeping with him. And so, I swore off hanging out with guys. Dating, flirting, or anything that could be weaponized against me by a culture that claimed to believe in liberating women but consistently treated me with the harsh moral codes of the Victorian era.’
As a self-proclaimed ‘consummate optimist,’ she assumed that if she ‘simply changed’ her behavior it would ‘fix’ the narrative.
‘I swore off dating and decided to focus only on myself, my music, my growth, and my female friendships, she continued. ‘If I only hung out with my female friends, people couldn’t sensationalize or sexualize that right? I would learn later on that people could and people would.’
Swift appears to be referring to speculation that the pair were romantically involved after a grainy picture emerged on social media that appeared to show them kissing at a 1975 concert in 2014.
At the time, a spokesperson for the performer was quick to nix the rumor to Gossip Cop, branding it ‘hilarious.’
In 2019, the Cats actress explicitly told Vogue the she was ‘not a part of’ LGTBQ+ community, but was passionate about speaking up for the community.
‘I didn’t realize until recently that I could advocate for a community that I’m not a part of, she admitted. ‘It’s hard to know how to do that without being so fearful of making a mistake that you just freeze. Because my mistakes are very loud. When I make a mistake, it echoes through the canyons of the world. It’s clickbait, and it’s a part of my life story, and it’s a part of my career arc.’
Former BFF: As she looked back at her life at 24, as she prepared to make the leap from a country artist to pop star, the 12-time Grammy winner explained she was desperate to ‘silence’ the voices shaming her for ‘dating like a normal young woman’ (seen with Kloss in 2013)
Reinventing herself: After years of becoming a ‘target of’ relentless ‘slut shaming’ and enduring endless jokes about the ‘amount of boyfriends’ she had, Swift explained being painted as a ‘boy crazy psychopath’ was ‘really starting to hurt’
The musician also addressed her reason for surrounding herself with friends in her mid-twenties as an attempt to ‘make up for a lack of them in childhood’ not to start a ‘tyrannical hot girl cult.’
In the prologue, she also praised listeners and fans for seeing ‘the seeds of allyship and advocating for equality’ in her track, Welcome To New York, in which she sings: ‘Everybody here was someone else before/And you can want who you want/Boys and boys and girls and girls.’
Swift has previously romantically linked to Harry Styles, Conor Kennedy, Jake Gyllenhaal, Lucas Till, Cory Monteith, Joe Jonas, John Mayer, Calvin Harris, Tom Hiddleston Joe Alwyn, Taylor Lautner, and most recently, Travis Kelce.
Additionally, many believe she dated Kloss, and Glee star Dianna Agron, who said it was ‘wildly untrue’ that they dated during an interview with Rolling Stone earlier this year.
In 2014, Swift tweeted a request that as a ’25th birthday present from the media’ that she would like people to ‘stop accusing’ her of dating all her friends.
Swift and Kloss’ worlds first collided in 2012 when the Mean singer admitted to Vogue that she ‘love[s]’ Kloss and wanted nothing more than to ‘bake cookies with her!’
Kloss got wind of the compliment and tried to get the ball rolling on a future hangout by tweeting out: ‘Hey @taylorswift13 love the @voguemagazine cover! Your kitchen or mine? :)’
They were first photographed together in November 2013 when the Grammy Award-winner served as the musical entertainment for that year’s Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, which Kloss walked in.
Past love: After years of becoming a ‘target of’ relentless ‘slut shaming’ and enduring endless jokes about the ‘amount of boyfriends’ she had, Swift explained being painted as a ‘boy crazy psychopath’ was ‘really starting to hurt’ (seen with ex-boyfriend Joe Jonas in 2008)
One of her muses: Swift and Harry Styles briefly dated in early 2013
Their friendship continued to grow in 2014 as they embarked on an epic cross-country road trip and enjoyed countless nights out in New York City.
The duo even got ready together for the 2014 Met Gala, which they documented on Instagram.
Swift revealed to Rolling Stone that Kloss even had her own room in her NYC apartment that was decorated with pictures of the model and included a basket of her favorite Whole Food treats by the bed.
In November 2014, the besties shared an epic runway moment as Swift performed at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show for a second time.
They held hands while making their way down the catwalk and shared several fun moments throughout the televised show.
They went on to take their friendship to a whole new level, Kloss and Swift teamed up to pose for a joint Vogue cover in February 2015.
Her ex: She and singer Calvin Harris split after 15 months together in 2016
Her longest relationship: Swift and Alwyn broke up after six years together in April (pictured in 2020)
Speaking to the outlet, Swift revealed that people in her inner-circle predicted that she’d one day be ‘best friends’ with the mother-of-two.
They also marveled at the physical resemblance between the pair.
‘People had been telling us for years we needed to meet,’ said the Pennsylvania native.
‘I remember makeup artists and hair people going, ‘Doesn’t she remind you of Karlie? God, she and Karlie would be best friends. They’re the same.”
Fans will remember Kloss’ cameo in Swift’s Bad Blood music video that was released in May 2015.
She starred in the epic production with the rest of Swift’s now-defunct ‘model squad’ that included of Gigi Hadid, Martha Hunt, Cara Delevingne and Lily Aldridge.
Kloss portrayed the leather-clad boxer ‘Knockout,’ who faces off with Swift in the ring before being recruited to her villainous crew.
Pals: In 2014, Swift tweeted a request that as a ’25th birthday present from the media’ that she would like people to ‘stop accusing’ her of dating all her friends (like Kloss, pictured above in 2014)
Destiny: Swift revealed that people in her inner-circle predicted that she’d one day be ‘best friends’ with the mother-of-two
Bad Blood won the coveted Video Of The Year award at the MTV Video Music Awards and the Grammy for Best Music Video in 2016. Karlie and the rest of the gals walked the VMAs red carpet with Swift.
Karlie has attended all of Swift’s tours since 2012, including a London stop on the singer’s 1989 tour in the summer of 2015.
Kloss and her ‘ride or die’ continued to flourish in 2016 as they attended Coachella together, spent Fourth Of July at Swift’s house in Rhode Island and continued to dine out in NYC.
But things seemingly took a turn in 2017 as they were no longer photographed together in public and stopped appearing on each other’s social media accounts.
Kloss did her best to quash the speculation by telling the NYT in March 2018 that she and Swift are still ‘good friends’ and ‘talk frequently.’
She starred in the epic production with the rest of Swift’s now-defunct ‘model squad’ that included of Gigi Hadid, Martha Hunt, Cara Delevingne and Lily Aldridge; It went on to win a VMA for Video Of the Year
All good: Kloss did her best to quash the speculation by telling the NYT in March 2018 that she and Swift are still ‘good friends’ and ‘talk frequently’
MIA: Kloss got engaged to business man Joshua Kushner in 2018 and they held two wedding ceremonies in the summer of 2019 — both of which Swift failed to attend; seen in May 2023
Months later, Kloss tried to prove that all is well in the world of ‘Kaylor’ as she snapped a selfie with Swift backstage at her Reputation Tour concert in Nashville, Tennessee.
Swift stayed silent on the state of her friendship with Kloss so the model was left to tackle the speculation on her own.
She gushed over Swift while appearing on WWHL in 2019, telling host Andy Cohen that she ‘[feels] really lucky to call her a friend’ and that Swift is ‘one of the hardest working women.’
Kloss got engaged to business man Joshua Kushner in 2018 and they held two wedding ceremonies in the summer of 2019 — both of which Swift failed to attend.
The guest list included the likes of Swift’s former enemy Katy Perry and Kloss’ manager Scooter Braun.
She tried to clear things up by having her rep reveal that Swift was invited but that work commitments prevented her from going.
But a month prior, it was revealed that Braun had purchased Taylor Swift’s original label Big Machine Label Group from then-owner Scott Borchetta, 60, for a $330 million sum via his Ithaca Holdings company.
Swift reacted the news with a blog post saying that for years she pleaded for a chance to own her work but was only given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and ‘earn’ one album back at a time, ‘one for every new one I turned in’.
She claimed in the post that she ‘walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, Scott Borchetta would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future.’
Braun faced furious backlash over a now-deleted Instagram post that bragged about him ‘buying Taylor Swift’ as he claimed he tried to have a mature conversation with her about the purchase of her catalog of past albums.
Busy bee: Swift recently wrapped her tour Eras Tour in Arizona across North America (seen in March)
Swift’s lawyer denied Borchetta’s claim that she had an opportunity to buy her masters before it was eventually sold to Braun.
The following years Braun sold the catalogue for over $300 million and Swift accused him of denying her the chance to own her old masters.
The singer also claimed the masters were sold without her knowledge, and she revealed the name of private equity company Shamrock Holdings as the new owners of her work.
Kloss never publicly addressed the intense back-and-forth between Swift and Braun.
Swift, whose latest re-record for her album 1989 comes out on Friday, has been releasing re-recordings of her back catalog since 2021.
After this week, she will only have her debut album, Taylor Swift, and Reputation left to rerecord.