Entertainment Awards Shows and Events Grammys A Timeline of Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian's Feud Take a look back at the drama between Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian through the years By Kelsie Gibson Kelsie Gibson Kelsie Gibson is the SEO Editor of PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2021. She was formerly at POPSUGAR, Bustle, Tiger Beat and Her Campus. People Editorial Guidelines Updated on April 23, 2024 04:46PM EDT Close Photo: Kevin Mazur/MTV1415/WireImage Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian have endured many ups and downs through the years. Following Swift and Kanye West’s long history, West’s then-wife Kardashian became part of the narrative in 2015 as Swift publicly reconciled (and then unreconciled) with West. The drama reached its peak in 2016 as West released "Famous" off his The Life of Pablo album (which made jabs at the "Style" singer) and Kardashian claimed that Swift knew of West's plans to release the track as she infamously leaked an edited phone call between West and Swift discussing the song before its release. The Internet immediately seemed to side with the reality star, and #KimExposedTaylorParty started trending. The following year, Swift responded to the drama with her sixth studio album Reputation, which was dominated by snake imagery as she reclaimed the snake emoji posted in her Instagram comments section at the time. Most recently, Swift reflected on the feud yet again with two new tracks from The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, which fans believe are about Kardashian. Ahead, take a look back at Swift and Kardashian’s relationship through the years, including what they’ve said about the drama. 2009: Kim Kardashian says she "loves" Taylor Swift Back in 2009, Kardashian spoke with Entertainment Tonight on the red carpet, where they asked her what the No. 1 song her iPod was. She giddily replied that it was “Love Story” by Swift, before adding, “I love Taylor Swift! I’m the biggest Taylor Swift fan.” She added that she was following her on Twitter, before adding, “I’m watching you, Taylor!” November 11, 2012: Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian pose together at MTV EMAs Dave Hogan/MTV 2012/Getty Images for MTV In 2012, the two had one of their first public interactions as they posed with Rita Ora at the MTV EMAs. February 8, 2015: Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian share a hug at the Grammys Larry Busacca/Getty Images for NARAS As Swift and West reconciled following their long-standing feud, Swift was seen getting chummy with Kardashian in the audience. After posing with JAY-Z and West for a photo, she was seen giving Kardashian a hug. August 30, 2015: Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian sit together at MTV VMAs Kevin Mazur/MTV1415/WireImage In August 2015, Swift and West publicly buried the hatchet as the singer presented the rapper with the Video Vanguard Award at the MTV VMAs. After giving a speech about West on stage, she was seen with her arms wrapped around Kardashian as they smiled at West on stage. However, the friendship was short-lived as the following February, West released his song “Famous” featuring a dig at Swift, saying he "made that bitch famous." Swift publicly reacted to the lyric during her Grammys acceptance speech for album of the year. "I want to say to all the young women out there, there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame," she said on stage. "If you just focus on the work, and you don't let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you're going, you'll look around and you will know that it was you and the people who love you who put you there, and that will be the greatest feeling in the world. Thank you for this moment." June 16, 2016: Kim Kardashian claims Taylor Swift knew of the infamous Kanye West “Famous” lyric all along "She totally approved that," Kardashian said in the July issue of GQ that year regarding Swift's knowledge of the lyrics of "Famous" before the song's release. Kardashian added, "She totally knew that that was coming out. She wanted to all of a sudden act like she didn't. I swear, my husband gets so much s--- for things [when] he really was doing proper protocol and even called to get it approved." June 2016: Taylor Swift's spokesperson releases a statement following Kim Kardashian's claims about Kanye West's "Famous" A spokesperson for the "Bad Blood” singer was quick to comment on the matter. "Taylor does not hold anything against Kim Kardashian as she recognizes the pressure Kim must be under and that she is only repeating what she has been told by Kanye West," the statement about Kardashian started off. "However, that does not change the fact that much of what Kim is saying is incorrect. Kanye West and Taylor only spoke once on the phone while she was on vacation with her family in January of 2016 and they have never spoken since," the statement continued. "Taylor has never denied that conversation took place. It was on that phone call that Kanye West also asked her to release the song on her Twitter account, which she declined to do." July 17, 2016: Kim Kardashian explains why she defended Kanye West against Taylor Swift On a July 2016 episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, the family discussed the longstanding feud between West and Swift in great detail, as well as West's controversial rant during his appearance on Saturday Night Live, where he was recorded backstage calling Swift fake. She explained that when she did her GQ interview, she felt the need to speak out. "I never talk s--- about anyone publicly, especially in interviews. But I was just like, I had so had it," she said "I wanted to defend him in it.” At the end of the episode, Kardashian sat down with momager Kris Jenner to discuss the controversial interview. Jenner tried to play peacemaker, asking, "What would happen if you just called Taylor up and say 'What happened? How did this go so south?' I guess I don't understand the motivation to flip … maybe she took it the wrong way. My advice would be to give Taylor Swift a call." "Thank you for your lovely advice," Kardashian told her mother, "but I'm not going to take it." July 17, 2016: Kim Kardashian releases video footage of Kanye West's phone call with Taylor Swift Immediately following that episode of KUWTK, Kardashian took to Snapchat to share a series of truncated videos of the phone call between her then-husband West and Swift, discussing the "Famous" lyrics – as well as their history. "It's like a compliment," Swift is heard saying in the video after West reads the lyrics to her (which include, "For all my Southside n----- that know me best / I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex"). "What I give a f--- is you as a person, and as a friend, I want things that make you feel good," West said, and thanked Swift "for being like, so cool about it" after she told him she appreciates the "heads up" on the lyrics. "I never would've expected you to like tell me about a line in your song," Swift said. "I mean, I don't think anybody would listen to that and be like, 'Oh, that's a real diss.' You gotta tell the story that way that it happened to you and the way you experienced it." She went on to add, "If people ask me about it, look, I think it would be great for me to be like, 'He called me and told me before it came out … Joke's on you, guys. We're fine.' " Shortly after, Swift's rep told PEOPLE, "Taylor was never made aware of the actual lyrics, 'I made that bitch famous.'" The Internet immediately seemed to side with the reality star, and #KimExposedTaylorParty started trending. July 17, 2016: Taylor Swift defends herself after Kim Kardashian releases Kanye West phone call footage Swift quickly defended herself online, noting how the phone call never showed West telling Swift he was going to call her “that bitch.” "It doesn't exist because it never happened. You don't get to control someone's emotional response to being called 'that bitch' in front of the entire world," she wrote in a note. "Of course I wanted to like the song. I wanted to believe Kanye when he told me that I would love the song. I wanted us to have a friendly relationship. He promised to play the song for me, but he never did. While I wanted to be supportive of Kanye on the phone call, you cannot 'approve' a song you haven't heard. Being falsely painted as a liar when I was never given the full story or played any part of the song is character assassination." "I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative, one that I have never asked to be a part of, since 2009," Swift continued. She captioned the post, "That moment when Kanye West secretly records your phone call, then Kim posts it on the Internet." August 27, 2017: Taylor Swift references Kanye West and Kim Kardashian drama in “Look What You Made Me Do” music video Almost a year after Kardashian shared the secretly recorded phone call on her Snapchat between her then-husband West and Swift, Swift announced the release of her sixth studio album, Reputation. Swift teased the news with a series of mysterious Instagram videos depicting a serpent. This appeared to be her way of reclaiming the snake emoji posted in her Instagram comments section (implying that she was a liar). In the music video for the song’s lead single “Look What You Made Me Do,” Swift referenced the drama with various Easter eggs throughout the video. In addition to having various snake imagery throughout, she also had the quote “Et tu, Brute” from William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar written on her chair as a reference to West stabbing her in the back. At the end of the video, she further referenced the drama as several different “versions of herself” lined up in a row, including one that kept taking videos on her phone, saying, “I’m going to edit this later.” January 14, 2019: Kim Kardashian claims there’s no more “Bad Blood” with Taylor Swift In January 2019, Kardashian cleared the air during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, during the show's "Squash That Beef!" segment. When asked about if her feud with Swift over the leaked phone calls was still ongoing, she said she was "over it." "I feel like we'd all moved on," Kardashian added of the tension between them. Later in the show, she also added that she'd rather be stuck in an elevator with Swift than Drake — another star who's had a complicated history with West. March 2019: Taylor Swift insinuates that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West still haven’t apologized to her Kevin Winter/Getty In a candid cover story interview with Elle, Swift alluded to her rocky relationship with West and Kardashian and spoke about how she learned to triumph over bullies. "I learned that disarming someone's petty bullying can be as simple as learning to laugh," Swift wrote in Elle. "In my experience, I've come to see that bullies want to be feared and taken seriously. A few years ago, someone started an online hate campaign by calling me a snake on the internet." "I can't tell you how hard I had to keep from laughing every time my 63-foot inflatable cobra named Karyn appeared onstage in front of 60,000 screaming fans," she wrote. "It's the Stadium Tour equivalent of responding to a troll's hateful Instagram comment with 'lol.'" "It would be nice if we could get an apology from people who bully us," Swift continued, "but maybe all I'll ever get is the satisfaction of knowing I could survive it, and thrive in spite of it." March 20, 2020: The full phone call between Kanye West and Taylor Swift leaks online Four years after Kardashian shared the edited phone call between West and Swift discussing his "Famous" lyrics, extended portions of the lengthy conversation were leaked online late on March 20, 2020. In clips posted to Twitter, the rapper is heard asking Swift to release his new song on her Twitter account. "So my next single, I wanted you to tweet it … so that's why I'm calling you. I wanted you to put the song out," he tells the Grammy winner on the phone. After telling Swift he included a "very controversial line" about her in the song, the pop star appeared to be nervous as she asks West what the lyrics are. A seemingly wary Swift asks if it's "gonna be mean," and West acknowledges even then-wife Kardashian initially felt it was "too crazy" but had come around. "It's like my wife's favorite f---ing line," he says. "So it says, 'To all my Southside n----- that know me best/ I feel like Taylor Swift might owe me sex," continues West with a chuckle. Responds Swift with a laugh: "That's not mean." Further discussing his proposal to have her release the song, Swift — who expresses relief that the lyrics aren't about her being "that stupid dumb bitch" — tells West she needs to "think about it because it is absolutely crazy." "I'm going to send you the song and send you the exact wording and everything about it, right? And then we could sit and talk through it," West tells Swift, who has long contended she never heard the song before its release, at the end of the call. Days later, Kardashian liked a tweet referencing the leak, stating, "The video showed nothing new. We all knew that. I'm so confused right now," reads the tweet. March 23, 2020: Taylor Swift responds to the leak of her full phone call with Kanye West "Instead of answering those who are asking how I feel about the video footage that leaked, proving that I was telling the truth the whole time about *that call* (you know, the one that was illegally recorded, that somebody edited and manipulated in order to frame me and put me, my family and fans through hell for 4 years)…SWIPE UP to see what really matters," wrote Swift on Instagram Stories on March 23, referencing the leaked call. "The World Health Organization and Feeding America are some of the organizations I've been donating to. If you have the ability to, please join me in donating during this crisis," continued Swift, directing fans to organizations that are in need during the coronavirus pandemic. March 24, 2020: Kim Kardashian responds to the leak of the full phone call between Kanye West and Taylor Swift That same evening in late March, Kardashian returned to Twitter — albeit "embarrassed" to do so — to clap back at Swift's remarks. "To be clear, the only issue I ever had around the situation was that Taylor lied through her publicist who stated that 'Kanye never called to ask for permission…' They clearly spoke so I let you all see that. Nobody ever denied the word 'bitch' was used without her permission," tweeted Kardashian. Swift's publicist, Tree Paine, who never denied the existence of the phone call in her statements, replied this time, re-sharing her very first statement on the matter, and asking, "P.S. who did you guys piss off to leak that video?" December 16, 2021: Kim Kardashian says she likes all of Taylor Swift’s songs During an interview on the Honestly podcast with host Bari Weiss, Kardashian was asked about Swift during a lightning question round. When asked what her favorite Swift album was, Kardashian responded, “I really like a lot of her songs. They're all super cute and catchy. I'd have to look in my phone to get a name [of an album].” October 22, 2023: Kim Kardashian reshares a Taylor Swift song on her Instagram Story As Kardashian celebrated her birthday in 2023, she donned a flowing purple dress which fans immediately drew parallels to Swift’s Speak Now album cover. Following a flood of comments asking if she was entering her Speak Now era, the reality star raised eyebrows as she reposted a birthday tribute from her friend Liz Woods, which featured Swift’s “Speak Now” song. December 7, 2023: Taylor Swift says Kanye West and Kim Kardashian feud felt like ‘career death’ As Swift was named TIME’s 2023 Person of the Year, the singer opened up about a variety of topics ranging from her romantic relationships to her past feuds in her cover story. In particular, she recalled the leaked phone call between her and West, that the moment and the public’s reaction felt like “a career death” and “took [her] down psychologically to a place [she’d] never been before.” “Make no mistake — my career was taken away from me,” the “Cruel Summer” singer said. “You have a fully manufactured frame job, in an illegally recorded phone call, which Kim Kardashian edited and then put out to say to everyone that I was a liar,” she recalled. “That took me down psychologically to a place I’ve never been before,” the Grammy winner continued. “I moved to a foreign country. I didn’t leave a rental house for a year. I was afraid to get on phone calls. I pushed away most people in my life because I didn’t trust anyone anymore. I went down really, really hard.” April 19, 2024: Taylor Swift seemingly sings about Kim Kardashian on The Tortured Poets Department As Swift detailed the intense media scrutiny she has faced in the spotlight in The Tortured Poets Department, she seemingly referenced Kardashian on two tracks, "Cassandra" and "thanK you aIMee," the latter of which notably has the letters K, I, and M capped up in the song's title. The song "thanK you aIMee," portrays "Aimee" as a school bully figure as Swift recounts her attacks. that only made her stronger in the end. The other song seems to reference the Greek goddess of the same name, who was granted the power of prophecy by Apollo. However, when she rejected him, he "sabotaged that power with a curse that no one would believe her predictions," according to the Brooklyn Museum's website. "So, they killed Cassandra first 'cause she feared the worst/And tried to tell the town/So, they filled my cell with snakes, I regret to say/Do you believe me now?" Taylor sings in the new track, also appearing to reference the snake emoji that featured in her feud with the reality TV star. April 23: A source tells PEOPLE Kim Kardashian is 'over' the feud Following the release of Swift's new track, a source gave PEOPLE insight into Kardashian's reaction. She’s over it and thinks Taylor should move on," the source explained. Kardashian “doesn’t get why [Swift] keeps harping on it,” the source added. “It’s been literally years.”