Taylor Swift has had her fair share of hits throughout her music career, all purported products of her whirlwind romances. Swift’s past relationships are notorious muses for the singer, who has written an innumerable amount of iconic breakup anthems, like “Picture to Burn,” “White Horse,” and “All Too Well.”

While Swift’s coveted relationship with Travis Kelce screams soul mates, Swifties are reminded of the past boyfriends who were once considered in her future.

From John Mayer to Joe Alwyn, Swift’s dating history is plastered all over the place. But what about those flings that were never confirmed? Some whispers of romance flew too quickly from the rumor mill for them to be considered part of the musician’s popular list of lovers.

Believe it or not, details suggest that Swift once had a brief romance with “Criminal Minds” star Matthew Gray Gubler.

In 2013, Gubler was at the height of fame, playing nerdy, hot, killer snatcher Dr. Spencer Reid, nearly on his 10th season of the popular CBS drama. At the same time, he was seemingly summering with a sensational pop princess and known serial dater. While his relationship with Swift was never publicly confirmed, there’s plenty to suggest that these two A-Listers had an unlikely romantic juncture between their separate worlds.

Taylor Swift reportedly made the first move

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Taylor Swift may favor a “Message In A Bottle” as her preferred mode of communication, but she certainly isn’t afraid to send a few flirty texts to start a song-worthy romance. A source who spoke with In Touch in 2013 claimed that Swift initiated her alleged relationship with Matthew Gray Gubler over Facebook Messenger (via Hollywood Life). She must’ve been a trendsetter, now that sliding into someone’s DMs is considered a dating ritual.

“She messaged him out of the blue in June to tell him she thinks he’s cute,” the source revealed. According to the insider, Gubler was originally skeptical. “At first, Matthew didn’t believe it was her. Then Taylor invited him to her house in LA for dinner, and he realized it actually was her!” Swift’s forwardness apparently didn’t stop with a text. According to the In Touch report, the songwriter cooked Gubler his favorite meal, from what she could research online. The dinner must’ve gone well, because a summer party at Swift’s house later that year was the catalyst for all the rumors. 

Rumors of a fling started after Taylor Swift’s 4th of July bash

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Matthew Gray Gubler attended Taylor Swift’s 2013 4th of July party at her house in Rhode Island, and that sparked speculation of a budding romance between the two. Gubler subtly revealed his attendance at the shindig when he wrote on X (then Twitter): “next stop New England!” It may not have been a declaration of his love for Swift, but MGG was poetically inspired by his trip to the East Coast, tweeting: “from sparkler lit mosquito kissed shorelines to the foggy streets of LA listening to smooth jazz with a Russian.”

Gubler’s approach to dating is charming and fairytale-esque. In an interview with Glamour, the star revealed that he’s not a hook-up kind of guy. “You gotta be friends with them forever because if I’m going to date someone, it’s a real big thing for me,” he said while describing his past relationship with “Two Broke Girls” star Kat Dennings. “It means that I feel that we’re tied together for life, whether they like it or not!”

Festive face paint confirmed they were together

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Hammering the nail in the proverbial coffin of secrets, Taylor Swift and Matthew Gray Gubler practically outed themselves by posting photos with the same face paint during the Independence Day festivities. The photos, posted in 2013 by gossip blog Oh No They Didn’t, show Gubler and Swift’s twinning American flag cheek decor — their other cheeks read “USA” and “1776.” A few subtle details about the background are more proof that the pair spent the holiday together. If you look at the cabinets behind Gubler in his selfie and the photo of Swift face-painting a friend, you will see that the cabinets are the same paint color and have the same ornate hardware.We may have never received public confirmation of their relationship because things ultimately didn’t work out. In a 2013 interview with Rolling Stone, Swift asserted, “I am getting to a point where the only love worth being in is the love worth singing about. And kind of mad love.” From what Gubler has said of his own desires in a relationship, it sounds like the pair were never a match made in Heaven.

A source claims Taylor Swift and Matthew Gray Gubler are just friends

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When rumors started circling the internet, Matthew Gray Gubler and Taylor Swift attempted to cover up their alleged, albeit conspicuous, relationship. At one point, Gubler deleted his July 4 selfie from his Twitter because speculations about him and Swift grew. The now-disbanded celebrity news site Gossip Cop cited a source close to Swift, who claimed the singer and actor were simply friends, nothing more (via Oh No They Didn’t). Other sources told a different story.

According to an insider, who reportedly spoke to The National Enquirer magazine in 2013, the celebs wanted to keep their connection on the down low before they made anything official, which is why they publicly claimed they were just friends. “Taylor’s trying to keep the whole relationship with Matthew secret for now,” the source said at the time (via Celebitchy). “That’s why she’s saying they’re ‘just friends’. The truth is, she wants to get to know him better before they take the relationship public.”

Taylor Swift may have written songs about Matthew Gray Gubler

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No matter how long or significant her relationship with Matthew Gray Gubler was, in true Taylor Swift fashion, the singer had to write a song about him. There are a couple of songs from her “1989” album that Swifties believe are about MGG, as she released the album around the time she would’ve been with the actor. Users on Reddit suspect that her song “Wildest Dreams” is about Gubler. The fans in the thread who presumed the song was about Alexander Skarsgård were shocked to learn of Swift’s reported relationship with Gubler, saying: “This is the first I’ve heard about this and it’s so random to me lol,” so their relationship was evidently kept quiet, excluding the seldom headline.

Another Reddit thread argued that Swift’s “Begin Again” was also inspired by Gubler. One user wrote that the song’s reference to James Taylor could’ve been a nod to Gubler’s love for the singer. Though they couldn’t prove that he’s a fan, we can. MGG once posted on X (then Twitter), writing, “me wearing a watercolor i did of snoop dogg while dancing to james taylor [sic].” While there’s no hard evidence that their romance was more than a rumor, their whimsical spirits sound like a perfect match (if Swift ever breaks things off with Travis Kelce).