Taylor Swift is finally putting to rest the longstanding rumours that she secretly dated several of her close female friends.
In the prologue for her 1989 (Taylor’s Version) album, the US singer explains that she started strictly hanging out with women after it “became clear” that she could not casually date or even “platonically hang out with” men without people assuming they were “sleeping” together.
“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,” she writes, according to screenshots leaked on Twitter.
Yet as a self-described “optimist,” Swift thought she could change the narrative if she “simply changed [her] behaviour” — which once again backfired.
“I swore off dating and decided to focus only on myself, my music, my growth, and my female friendships,” she continues.
“If I only hung out with my female friends, people couldn’t sensationalise or sexualise that right? I would learn later on that people could and people would.”
This isn’t the first time the Cruel Summer singer, 33, has addressed the baseless fan theory that she is queer.
In a September 2019 interview with Vogue, Swift denied that her song Me! was her subtle way of announcing she was part of the LGBTQIA+ community.
The Wildest Dreams singer explained to the magazine at the time that she simply wanted to make a piece of art that was uplifting during a time of political turmoil.
“Rights are being stripped from basically everyone who isn’t a straight white cisgender male,” she explained. “I didn’t realise until recently that I could advocate for a community that I’m not a part of.
“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.”
The rumours first started after Swift and Glee star Dianna Agron developed a fast friendship in the early 2010s.
At the time, Swift dedicated one of the songs from her Red album to Agron, but the pair stopped hanging out around the time 1989 was released in 2014.
Despite the speculation, the actress has denied that there was anything romantic going on between the two on numerous occasions.
In May 2023, Agron shot down speculation that she was the inspiration behind Swift’s song 22 despite her name being mentioned in the liner notes alongside several of the singer’s other close pals.
“That’s more because of a friendship than being the inspiration for the song,” she explained. “But I would not be the person to ask about that. I cannot claim that!”
“That is so interesting,” she added of the dating rumours. “I … I mean, there have been many stories about my dating life that are so wildly untrue. That’s funny.”
Although both Swift and Agron have been big advocates for the LGBTQIA+ community, neither has ever publicly been in a queer relationship.
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The Anti-Hero singer is currently dating NFL star Travis Kelce, and the pair seem to be going strong.
Swift announced the re-release of 1989 in August. The album comes out today.
This article originally appeared in Page Six and was reproduced with permission
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