Many singer Taylor Swift fans were shocked when they realized she was revealing what her friend, actor Blake Lively, called her youngest child, in her song “Betty.” But new evidence suggests that may not be the case. Here’s what happened, and the other possible explanation behind the Folklore track title kar.
Blake Lively and Taylor Swift have been friends for years
Life and Swift’s friendship dates back several years. Life may have missed the girl squad window “Bad Blood”, but she and Swift hung out together in December 2015 in Australia (see photo above). At that time, the former was filming The Shallows, and the last step on them 1989 World Tour.
In the years that followed, Lively attended several events hosted by Swift, from her now infamous party from the fourth of July of 2016 to her 30th birthday in December 2019. In 2020, Lively told BuzzFeed that if she had a celebrity, it would be Swift. “I have to go with Taylor,” she said. “Come on. The world needs more Taylor. I need more Taylor.”
Lively has three children with husband Ryan Reynolds
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In the same interview, Lively revealed how busy she is, joking that she has “far too many children”. With actor Ryan Reynolds, whom she married in 2012, she has three daughters: James Reynolds (above), born in 2014; Inez Reynolds, born in 2016; and a third child, born in 2019.
Swift and Lively stayed close when they expanded their family. In fact, the singer-songwriter even used her boyfriend’s eldest daughter with her 2017 album Reputation. The track “Beautiful” opens with the sound of a child saying the title. This was later confirmed as the voice of James Reynolds.
Swift said she named ‘Betty’ characters after her ‘friends’ children’
Fast-forward two albums, and Swift once again incorporated the children of Lively into her work. Then the artist of 2020 album Folklore debuted on July 24, 2020, fans soon acknowledged that the names of James and Inez were both present in the song, “Betty.”
“I named all the characters in this story after the children of my friends,” Swift said when introducing the song on country radio, according to E! With James and Inez being reckoned with, that leaves Betty alone. And fans and the media took this as confirmation that Betty is the name of Lively’s youngest daughter.
Could ‘Betty’ refer to another person named on ‘Folklore’?
After Swift made that announcement, it can be assumed that Lively would confirm the rumors. However, when she shared a necklace with the names of her children on her Instagram Story in August 2020, she snapped the photo so that only “James” and “Inez” are visible. So what if Betty is not the name of her youngest?
There was another theory about “Betty” that still holds true. On “The Last Great American Dynasty,” Swift sings about Rebekah Harkness, a real woman who went by the nickname Betty. As Swift intended to connect everyone Folklore tracks, as some believe, this would fit. But it does mean that the name of Lively’s daughter is still a mystery.
