Is Taylor Swift America’s worst best friend?
It sure seems so. Swift’s one-time BFF Blake Lively, now at a career and reputational low, looks to be getting the heave-ho.
Radical thought: Lively may be better off without her.
No celebrity, apparently, is more transactional than Taylor Swift.
Not one seems more cold-blooded, more lizardly, more willing to leave loved ones behind should they threaten her so-called ‘Miss Americana’ brand.
Gone are the days of those romantic dinners with Blake, their hands intertwined in front of the cameras. The idea of Swift being a godmother to Blake’s kids or entertaining Blake and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, at various sports events seems to be a thing of the past, especially when they used to cheer on Swift’s boyfriend, Travis Kelce, on the football field.
No more!
Swift’s former close friend, Blake Lively, who is currently facing challenges in her career and reputation, appears to be on the verge of being ousted. Here’s a radical notion: maybe it’s for the best for Lively to part ways with Swift.
It appears that Taylor Swift is one of the most transactional celebrities out there. She comes off as ruthless, calculating, and quick to cut off people from her life if they pose a threat to her carefully crafted ‘Miss Americana’ image.
For a woman who built a massive fanbase on sisterhood — resulting in the scourge of middle-aged ‘Swifties’ flaunting cheap plastic-elastic ‘friendship bracelets’ last year — it turns out not one close female friend is safe.
Lively’s days in Swift’s squad were numbered the minute she filed a massive lawsuit against Justin Baldoni, her co-star and director of their film ‘It Ends with Us’, alleging sexual harassment.
When Baldoni fought back, releasing text messages in which Lively referred to Swift as one of her ‘dragons’ and noting that Swift had been present during a crucial meeting with Lively and Reynolds — well, it appears that was the death knell.
The alleged text in question: ‘If you ever get around to watching ‘Game of Thrones’,’ Lively wrote, ‘you’ll appreciate that I’m Khaleesi, and like her, I happen to have a few dragons.’
(Let’s not tell Blake that Khaleesi, a warrior who had an incestuous relationship with her nephew, also burned a civilization to the ground after going insane!)
Lively continued: ‘For better or worse, but usually for better. Because my dragons also protect those I fight for. So really we all benefit from those gorgeous monsters of mine. You will too, I can promise you’.
Surely, Swift doesn’t appreciate being called a ‘monster’, no matter how gorgeous. Though, I dare say, it does track.
Lively is now damaged goods, allegedly resented by Swift for dragging her into this PR nightmare.
No matter that Swift appears to have had an active hand in ‘It Ends with Us’, despite her protestations. According to these filings, Swift gave notes on the script, was present — by accident, a source claims — at a meeting called by Lively and Reynolds to allegedly bully Baldoni, and allowed one of her songs to be used in the film.
But don’t blame Taylor for anything! She’s thrown Blake under the proverbial bus and run over the body a few more times just to be safe.
Swift is a ‘friend’ most of us would happily lose. She clearly lives in a binary world of black-and-white — no greys, no nuances, just people who are either with her or against her.
Or who become liabilities, like Blake.
On Friday, a source close to Swift told the Mail that, unlike last year, Lively will not be joining the singer in her VIP Super Bowl box.
No more cosplay as head cheerleader for Blake — who, by the way, is 37 years old to Swift’s 35.
So a weary nation will be spared these middle-aged women acting like tweenagers, rooting for Taylor’s boyfriend with varsity jackets falling off their shoulders just so, squealing and hugging and shoving their so-called perfect lives and perfect friendship in our faces.
Consider this icy comment from a Swift insider to the Mail, two days before the big game:
‘Blake is not attending the Super Bowl with [Taylor]. Taylor wants nothing to do with this trial and this court case’.
Savage. A ten-year-old friendship seemingly ended publicly, in a statement surely meant to humiliate.
Lively’s days in Swift’s squad were numbered the minute she filed a massive lawsuit against Justin Baldoni (pictured with Lively), her co-star and director of their film ‘It Ends with Us’, alleging sexual harassment.
When Baldoni fought back, releasing text messages in which Lively referred to Swift as one of her ‘dragons’ and noting that Swift had been present during a crucial meeting with Lively and Ryan Reynolds (pictured) – well, it appears that was the death knell.
That was on top of Thursday’s grenade, another Swift source saying the singer ‘feels used’ by Lively.
Right. Because Taylor Swift, a self-made billionaire, is always the victim.
More: ‘Taylor really wishes Blake hadn’t dragged her into this whole situation,’ the source said. ‘Taylor cherishes genuine friendships’ — HA! — ‘[but she] wants to keep out of this drama as much as possible.’
Taylor Swift wants nothing to do with drama?
This is the child-woman who villainizes every ex-boyfriend in a song.
The woman who inserted herself into the Sophie Turner-Joe Jonas divorce — Jonas another ex of Swift’s — making sure we all knew that Turner was staying at Swift’s Tribeca loft.
Who spent all summer re-releasing versions of ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ and keeping female rivals, notably Billie Eilish and Charli XCX, from hitting Number One.
So Blake’s metaphorical body goes on the heap of other discarded BFFs such as Karlie Kloss, Lorde, Katy Perry, Dianna Agron and Lena Dunham — the latter often trotted out among long-legged supermodels as proof, somehow, that Swift wasn’t a superficial mean girl.
Sure.
Weep not for Lively, who seems quite the mean girl herself. In this sense, she and Taylor were well-matched.
Swift, however, seems to lose more friends than she keeps. She always cuts a lonely figure at awards shows, trying to prove she’s having the most fun while looking awkward and out-of-place.
Remember her repeated attempts, at last year’s Grammys, to put one of her trophies on top of people’s heads? She seemed to think it was cute or collegial. Really, it was just cringe.
Or even years back, when she dated RFK Jr.’s son Conor for a hot minute and then bought a house right next door to the Kennedy Compound?
Taylor Swift is weird and, to my mind, a shameless user.
If she were really smart, she’d hold on to her closest friends instead of casting them aside. She’d realize that friendships matter most when things are hard — that the highs are the easy part. And she’d have confidence that her fans wouldn’t abandon her for showing some loyalty.
In fact, they’d probably respect her more for it.
Taylor Swift may seem to have everything. But to promiscuously cast aside trusted friends is to have nothing.
