Inside Taylor Swift’s Friendships With Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds

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Inside Taylor Swift’s Friendships With Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds

Spotted: Taylor Swift’s friendships with Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds growing stronger by the year. The Gossip Girl alum first publicly revealed she is a fan of Swift in September 2015 after Lively was accused of throwing shade at the singer-songwriter. “…Sooo, turns out this WASN'T a video shoot for John Legend's cover of Bad Blood,” the actress wrote alongside a photo from a L'Oreal campaign shoot at the time via Instagram. While social media users thought Lively was poking fun at Swift’s star-studded “Bad Blood” music video, Lively quickly cleared things up. "Umm whoever thought I was throwin shade clearly doesn't know I have a ‘Taylor Swift Please Be My Wife Voo Doo Doll’ #obsessed,” Lively wrote at the time. “Love my Canadian family almost as much as I love Taylor Lively. I mean Swift. Ok, FIIINE we can hyphenate our last names. Xo Blake Swift-Lively 4eva.” It’s safe to say Lively introduced Swift to Reynolds, whom the Savages star married in 2012. The Deadpool star was spotted with his wife at Swift’s infamous 4th of July party in 2016. Swift later honored her friends’ three eldest daughters — James, Betty and Inez — by including their names in the song “Betty” off her July 2020 album Folklore. She even gave the young girls a shoutout during a Philadelphia stop on The Eras Tour in May 2023, telling the crowd, “There are a few of the characters [in ‘Betty’] that I actually, fun fact, named after real people in my life who I love more than anything.” Scroll through for more details of their friendship:

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December 2015

Two months after Lively confirmed she wasn’t shading Swift via Instagram, the two women met up in Australia.

“Yesterday was such an amazing day off,” Swift wrote alongside a photo with Lively in December 2015 via Instagram. “Roller coasters, kangaroos and LOLs with Blake Lively. See you tonight, Adelaide!”

Credit: Courtesy Blake Lively/Instagram

December 2016

“People Who I Not Only Really Love, But Also Really LIKE, That Were Born Yesterday: Part 1 of 2.🎈 @taylorswift you know how I feel. 💜,” Lively captioned a birthday selfie for Swift. (The second birthday shoutout was for sister Robyn Lively’s husband, Bart Johnson.)

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July 2016

The spouses celebrated the 4th of July with Swift and then-boyfriend Tom Hiddleston.

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July 2017

Swift’s romance with Hiddleston didn’t last, but she had Lively and Reynolds by her side. Us confirmed at the time that the pair joined the “Mean” singer and new man Joe Alywn for a romantic getaway in Rhode Island.

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November 2017

Lively and Reynolds’ eldest daughter, James, was featured at the top of Swift’s 2017 track, “Gorgeous.”

“A little intro there, yeah,” Reynolds said on Good Morning America about the song in 2018. “That was a voice memo that ended up on a [Taylor Swift] song. It’s pretty amazing. My daughter has a really, really terrible ego problem now after that song.”

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July 2018

Lively and Reynolds were spotted jumping for joy when Swift sang “Gorgeous” at her concert in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

The actress later called their freakout “embarrassing.”

"That was the true, unfiltered version of our terrible stage parent pride,” she told GMA that September. "Our kids have very normal lives, as much as that's possible. So she didn't even get a title on the album. I should be collecting royalties!"

Credit: Courtesy Taylor Swift/Instagram

December 2019

Reynolds and Lively were in attendance at Swift’s 30th birthday party.

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July 2020

Fans may have learned how close the couple really is to Swift when she dropped a track called “Betty” on her eighth studio album, Folklore. In the song, Swift references the monikers of Lively and Reynolds’ oldest daughters, James and Inez — and seemingly announced the name of baby No. 3, who quietly arrived in 2019.

“You heard the rumors from Inez / You can't believe a word she says,” Swift sings in the chorus.

The bridge lyrics read: “I was walking home on broken cobblestones / Just thinking of you when she pulled up like / A figment of my worst intentions / She said ‘James, get in, let's drive.’”

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August 2020

Swift later confirmed the “Betty” name theory in a radio interview, settling listeners, “I named all the characters in this story after my friend’s kids, and I hope you like it!”

She also provided more insight into the song. “He lost the love of his love, basically, and doesn’t understand how to get it back. I think we all have these situations in our lives where we learn to really, really give a heartfelt apology for the first time,” Swift explained. “Everyone makes mistakes, everybody really messes up sometimes. This is a song that I wrote from the perspective of a 17-year-old boy. And I’ve always loved that in music you can kind of slip into different identifies and you can sing from other people’s perspectives, and that’s what I did in this one.”

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March 2021

Swift gave a shout-out to the couple during her acceptance speech for Album of the Year at the Grammys, thanking “Betty, James and Inez” and their parents. She also noted that after boyfriend Alwyn, Lively and Reynolds are the next ones to hear her new music.

Credit: Courtesy of Bowen Yang/Instagram

November 2021

Reynolds turned out to be Swift's photographer for this Instagram snap of her with Sadie Sink and Bowen Yang. Reynolds is seen in the mirror taking the snap backstage at Swift's SNL performance. The Free Guy star and his wife both visited the New York City studio to watch Swift perform "All Too Well." In the comments section, Lively revealed that she makes a cameo in the pic. "Whose gorgeous foot is that?!" she commented, noting the sparkling blue heel next to Reynolds

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November 2021

Lively made her directorial debut with the singer's "I Bet You Think About Me" music video. "I finally got to work with the brilliant, brave, & wickedly funny @blakelively on her directorial debut. Join us as we raise a toast, and a little hell," Swift captioned her announcement via Instagram, one day before the video's release.

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June 2022

Swift attended the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival to discuss her short film All Too Well — and Lively and Reynolds were there to support her. The songstress wore a navy blue pinstripe waistcoat and matching trousers, similar to what the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants star wore in her 2018 thriller, A Simple Favor.

Credit: Courtesy of Blake Lively/Instagram

September 2022

Lively shared snaps of her baby bump after announcing that baby No. 4 was on the way. One snap showed her hugging Swift. 

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October 2022

After the "Maroon" singer released her 10th studio album, Midnights, fans were quick to develop a theory that she name-dropped pregnant Lively and Reynolds' fourth child's name.

In “You’re On Your Own, Kid” Swift sings, “I see the great escape, so long, Daisy May / I picked the petals, he loves me not,” she sang on the track. “Something different bloomed, writing in my room / I play my songs in the parking lot.”

Since the Pennsylvania native has a penchant for including Lively and Reynolds' kids' names in her music, viewers immediately surmised that "Daisy May" will be what the couple names their fourth baby.

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November 2022

After thanking fans for supporting the "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" music video, Swift gave Lively a surprise shout-out while accepting the award for Favorite Pop Album at the American Music Awards. “I want to take a moment to thank someone who directed the other music video, ‘I Bet You Think About Me,’ my beautiful, brilliant friend, [and] my director, Blake Lively," she gushed.

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April 2023

The couple were spotted grabbing dinner with Swift in April 2023, a few weeks after the “Long Story Short” singer split from Alwyn.

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May 2023

“There are a few of the characters [in ‘Betty’] that I actually, fun fact, named after real people in my life who I love more than anything,” Swift said while shouting out the couple’s daughters during a Philadelphia show on The Eras Tour in May 2023 — at which Lively and her two eldest, James and Inez, were in attendance. “And their names are James, Inez and Betty.”

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October 2023

Swift brought Reynolds and Lively to MetLife Stadium with a bunch of pals to watch Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs play the New York Jets. 

Credit: Courtesy of Blake Lively/Instagram

December 2023

Lively and Swift attended the London premiere of Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé. Following the event, the actress shared several snaps from the event and penned a special message for Swift and Beyoncé. 

“When I grew up, women were always pit against one another. It took me until adulthood to see that the instinct for women to lift each other up to their highest potential is the norm not the exception,” Lively wrote via Instagram.  “Most of my best friends are women who would’ve been packaged to me as threats or competition. It’s our job to show younger generations the power in aligning rather than dividing.”

Lively concluded the sweet message with a joke, telling the musicians that they didn’t need to be “threatened” by her “pop stardom” and that there was enough room in the world for all three of them.