Celebrity

Kim Kardashian leaked a recording of Taylor Swift and Kanye West. Swift said she couldn’t trust anyone in the aftermath.

In 2016, Kanye West dropped a line about Taylor Swift in his song “Famous.” What followed was a years-long feud between West, Swift, and Kim Kardashian. At this time, Kardashian released footage of a phone conversation between Swift and West in which they discuss the song. Swift said she felt devastated in the aftermath. She hardly stepped out in public for a year.

In the song “Famous,” West raps, “For all my Southside n***** that know me best / I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that b**** famous.” In a Grammy acceptance speech later that year, Swift spoke about the frustration of having someone take credit for her success.

Kardashian publicly said Swift had been aware of the line ahead of time. A spokesperson for Swift confirmed that she spoke to West, but only once. In 2016, Kardashian released footage of the phone call. In it, West and Swift discuss the song and she thanks him for giving her a heads up. Public backlash was immediate, and people began to call her a snake.

“Make no mistake — my career was taken away from me,” she told Time in 2023.

She said the backlash was hard for her to deal with.

“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 said. “That took me down psychologically to a place I’ve never been before.”

In reaction, she moved to a new country and scarcely left her rental house. She also isolated herself from those close to her.

“I moved to a foreign country. I didn’t leave a rental house for a year,” she said. “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.”

She also worried about how ‘Reputation’ would impact her career

In 2017, Swift released the album Reputation, which reacted to the backlash. Critics gave mixed reviews, which stung.

“The molecular chemistry of that old label was that every creative choice I wanted to make was second-guessed,” she said. “I was really overthinking these albums.”

She worried she’d never be able to move forward from this moment.

“I thought that moment of backlash was going to define me negatively for the rest of my life,” she said.

Kim Kardashian reportedly wants to move past the feud with Taylor Swift

Swift has, of course, been able to move forward from the feud. She has gone on to win Album of the Year twice and embarked on the highest-grossing tour of all time.

Kardashian also hopes to move on. After the singer released the song “thanK you aIMee,” which is seemingly about Kardashian, she expressed frustration.

“She’s over it and thinks Taylor should move on,” a source told People, adding, “[Kardashian] doesn’t get why [Swift] keeps harping on it. It’s been literally years.”