Katy Perry and Taylor Swift were entangled in a alleged feud for years, but their path to becoming friends again didn’t happen overnight, either. In 2018, Perry sent Swift a literal olive branch with an apology letter. Then, last year, Perry and Swift publicly bonded over a plate of cookies before Perry appeared in Swift’s star-studded, delightfully extra music video for “You Need to Calm Down.” Their reunion was just as public as their bad blood, and now, Perry says there was a reason for that: they wanted to set a positive example for their young fans.
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“Gossip and lies, they take the elevator. But truth takes the stairs...time will tell my story,” she told Howard Stern on Tuesday. “What I’m so grateful for is that we did get to make up, and we made up publicly to be an example of redemption. It’s hard for young girls, growing up [with] cliques and high school and pettiness and all that stuff.”
This doesn’t mean her friendship with Swift is just for show, though. “Now we’re super friendly,” Perry continued. “And I’ve always wanted the best for her, and we can talk about the best we want for each other.”
Perry first spoke up about her decision to apologise to Swift on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. “We have such big groups of people that like to follow us, and they started turning against each other a little bit, too,” she said. “We made amends, and I’m all about redemption and forgiveness and for setting an example for those younger people that it can be cool to ask for forgiveness.”
As for her part, Swift — who has more than once discussed how sexism and double standards have affected her career and reputation — addressed the way the public talks about “feuds” between successful women. “It’s assumed that we hate each other,” she told Rolling Stone last year. “Even if we’re smiling and photographed together with our arms around each other, it’s assumed there’s a knife in our pocket.”
No knives here, though: just redemption, friendship, and cookies. And hopefully, with Perry's upcoming album out 14th August, that collab we've been waiting for since 2018.