During the reputation era, unlike the 1989 era, Taylor Swift wasn’t all that public about her friendships. There was very little friend time on display on her social media. Now that the reputation era is over, Taylor’s showing us a little more hashtag friendship. There was her New Year’s Eve costume party and yesterday she posted this on Instagram:
That’s Selena Gomez, obviously, and also Cazzie David. It’s good to see Selena and Taylor together. As we know, Selena’s been through some sh-t the last few months. In September she announced that she was taking a break from social media. Shortly after it was reported that she’d been having some complications due to her kidney transplant and struggling with her mental health. My ma was admitted to the hospital last Tuesday, on New Year’s Day, for pneumonia after returning home from a month-long trip. She too has had a kidney transplant and also a stem cell transplant and every day last week, like Selena in the fall, her white blood cell counts kept dropping. When you have a low white blood cell count, your body is at risk of infection and then your body, already immune compromised to be begin with, has a hard time fighting infection if it happens. I could see the discouragement on ma’s face every day when the blood work came back and she was told she had to stay in isolation and not go home. She lives with an incurable disease (POEMS) and has basically been sick for 25 years. It’s exhausting and it’s demoralising, because even though some treatments work, you always have to be vigilant. She’d just gone on holiday for the first time in a while, she had a blast, and then boom, she gets home and it’s like her body was punishing her. That kind of stress, understandably, takes its toll on your mind. And I imagine it might be worse for someone as young as Selena, staring down that reality, especially in your lowest moments.
In recent weeks, Selena’s been more visible, stepping out with friends, heading to exercise class, continuing to recover. She still hasn’t posted on her own social media accounts but she’s shown up in her other friends’ posts and now here, with Taylor, looking relaxed and cozy. Both have made changes to their inner circles but clearly, behind the scenes, they remain close. I don’t have anything cynical to say about that.
There may be, however, an interesting gossip angle to Taylor hanging out with Cazzie David. Just a couple of months ago, it was rumoured that Cazzie and John Mayer were a thing because she showed up on his podcast – that was the discussion where he talked about having sex with less than 500 people. Maria was predicting that they would hook up. Now Cazzie’s invited over for “20wineteen” at Taylor’s, a way better option. Wonder if he came up in conversation?
