Friends turned foes - A timeline of Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian's feud (2024)

It's safe to say Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift aren't close friends, with the pair being embroiled in a bitter feud and it all comes down to Kim's ex-husband Kanye West

Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift have been embroiled in a bitter feud for years, with the singer admitting Kim "took her down psychologically".

Taylor recently hit out at Kim as she opened up about how the reality star had negatively impacted her life. She also hit out at Kim's ex-husband Kanye West and branded the former couple "trash".

Taylor and Kim's dramatic feud all started when Kanye wrote vulgar lyrics about the Shake It Off hitmaker and Kim stepped in to defend the rapper. Here, we've taken a look back at the explosive drama.

Kanye's VMAs disruption

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Kanye was actually the one who ignited Taylor and Kim's bitter feud. At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, Taylor won the prize for Best Female Video.

However, Kanye wasn't happy for the singer and decided to let the whole world know. The rapper stormed the stage and interrupted Taylor to tell her how he believed Beyoncé should have won.

"Yo, Taylor, I'm really happy for you. Imma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time," he said. Taylor was unable to finish her acceptance speech because of Kanye's interruption.

Leaked fake phone call

Things between Kanye and Taylor got even worse when he released his 2016 song Famous, which features the lyrics: "I feel like me and Taylor Swift might still have sex. Why? I made that b***h famous."

Taylor was furious, but Kanye claimed to have had an hour-long phone call with her about the lyrics and said she had approved the song. She hit back, with her representative saying: "Kanye did not call for approval, but to ask Taylor to release his single Famous on her Twitter account.

"She declined and cautioned him about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message. Taylor was never made aware of the actual lyric, 'I made that b***h famous'."

Kim then waded into the drama as she jumped in to defend Kanye. The reality star shared a video which she claimed was of Kanye's phone call with Taylor.

During the chat, he appeared to ask permission to use the lyrics. Taylor seemed to say: "I know, it's like a compliment, kind of.

"Yeah, I mean, what's dope about the line is it's very tongue in cheek either way. And I really appreciate you telling me about it, that's really nice."

Taylor hits back

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Taylor insisted Kim's leaked call didn't show what actually happened. She shared a statement on social media which read: "That moment when Kanye West secretly records your phone call, then Kim posts it on the internet.

"Where is the video of Kanye telling me he was going to call me 'that b****' in his song? It doesn't exist because it never happened. You don't get to control someone's emotional response to being called 'that b****' in front of the entire world."

Taylor accused Kanye of promising to play her Famous, but insisted he never did. Her statement continued: "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."

Full phone call released

In 2020, Taylor was proven right. The unedited version of her and Kanye's call was leaked and the Flashing Lights hitmaker was heard telling Taylor he had written a song about her and asked if she would support it.

He warned her there was a "very controversial line at the beginning" but reassured her that it wasn't "mean". He told her the lyric was simply: "To all my Southside n****s that know me best, I feel like Taylor Swift might owe me sex."

Taylor agreed it wasn't mean, but said she needed time to think about it. She added: "When you hear something for the first time you need to think about it, because it is absolutely crazy."

During the phone call, there was no mention of the word "b***h*. Taylor later begged people to finally move on from the drama.

Kim's damning statement

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Kim hit back with a bitter statement and claimed Taylor hadn't been telling the whole truth. Taking to Instagram, she said: "The lie was never about the word b***h, it was always where there was a call or not."

The Kardashians star denied editing the footage and said she only posted part of the call "to make my point". Kim said the call had only been recorded as part of Kanye's "musical journey", adding: "The call between the two of them would have remained private or would have gone in the trash had she not lied and forced me to defend him."

She continued: "At the time when they spoke the song had not been fully written yet, but as everyone can see in the video, she manipulated the truth of their actual conversation in her statement when her team said she 'declined and cautioned him about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message'."

Taylor opens up

In 2023, Taylor was crowned TIME magazine's Person of the Year. She spoke to the magazine about her feud with Kanye and Kim and the impact it had on her mental health.

Taylor said the long-running feud took her "down psychologically" to a place she had not been before. She explained to the publication: "That took me down psychologically to a place I've never been before. I moved to a foreign country. I didn't leave a rental house for a year."

Taylor continued: "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."