It was as telling as it was discreet. The silver SUV gliding into the garage of a downtown apartment building in Manhattan. The paneled oak doors steadily closing before its occupant emerged.
Less than 24 hours ahead of her two-day New York wedding bonanza, this was Taylor Swift arriving at the home of the woman who can now confidently claim to be her best-friend – Gigi Hadid.
Who else would Swift, 36, want to help soothe any last-minute nerves, or help smooth any pre-celebration wrinkles than Hadid?
Well, as any Swiftie will tell you there is one other woman who might once have been a more obvious candidate than the supermodel: hometown best-friend and loyal confidante of nearly two decades, Abigail Anderson Berard, 36.
But while Swift and Anderson were once all but inseparable the past two days have shown just how surely the sands have shifted in Gigi’s favor. And while Swift visited Hadid, 31, at home not once, but twice, ahead of the Madison Square Garden festivities – she was seen there on Wednesday and Friday – Anderson was relegated to some downtime in the Ritz Carlton, NoMad.
Not quite out in the cold but certainly left on the sidelines. So, what is behind Hadid’s ascension in Swift’s affections? According to one close to the model the secret is simple.
Gigi Hadid has topped Taylor Swift’s girl squad as MVP, over Taylor’s hometown best-friend and loyal confidante of nearly two decades, Abigail Anderson Berard
Swift arrived at the home of the woman who can now confidently claim to be her best-friend – Hadid
Gigi Hadid’s boyfriend, Bradley Cooper, was spotted in a tuxedo on the wedding day
The source told the Daily Mail: ‘[Gigi] doesn’t care about status. She didn’t get close to Taylor because she’s famous and influential, she sees through all that. And Taylor was used to people just wanting to get close to her because of all that. When it became clear that she didn’t have those motives, I think the walls came down. Taylor dropped her guard and they got close.
‘Gigi will never betray her, ever. That’s not who she is, and there’s a loyalty there. They talk a lot, they tell each other that they love each other. It’s a very close friendship.’
Hadid has been friends with Swift since at least 2014, when the two appeared at the same Oscars party together, but in recent years, the pair seems to have grown closer.
According to our source, right from the start the women, ‘just clicked.’
‘They were aware of each other for a while, they had each other’s numbers, they started to text. And at some point, it just became a regular thing, they would text.’
And while some friends have, in recent days, been far from shy about bilking their association with Swift – Selena Gomez, 33, took the opportunity to promote her Rare Beauty brand of cosmetics, posting her pouting and tagging the lipstick – Hadid has no interest, the source said, in capitalizing.
In fact, the insider said, both Swift and Hadid are deeply invested in their friendship outside of the spotlight.
The news may have come as a surprise to Swifties, as the music superstar has been friends with Anderson Berard since 2004 when the pair met in an English class at their high school and bonded over their shared love of Shakespeare.
Over the course of their over two decades long friendship, Swift has written songs about Anderson Berard, taken her to awards shows, and even walked beside her best friend as her maid of honor during Anderson Berard’s 2022 wedding.
But it seems Swift did not wish to return the favor, as the pop sensation chose to have no bridesmaids at her wedding.
Hadid is a longtime member of Swift’s infamous ‘Girl Squad,’ a crew that got its moniker for appearing onstage with her during her ‘1989’ tour in 2015.
Hadid is a longtime member of Swift’s infamous ‘Girl Squad’
Hadid has often appeared onstage with Swift, seen here during her ‘1989’ tour in 2015
Swift served as Anderson Berard’s maid of honor during her 2022 wedding
Swift has been friends with Anderson Berard since 2004 when the pair met in an English class at their high school
The pair bonded over their shared love of Shakespeare
Hadid appeared on the tour alongside the likes of fellow models Lily Aldridge and Martha Hunt, as well as celebrities like Blake Lively, Selena Gomez and Cara Delevingne.
During this time, Hadid was also featured prominently in Swift’s 2015 music video for her song ‘Bad Blood.’
Over the course of their friendship, Hadid has been a constant presence at Swift’s birthday parties, Halloween bashes, red carpet events and concerts – most recently, she appeared to support her friend on multiple stops of Swift’s wildly popular Eras Tour.
In 2019, the pair even celebrated Friendsgiving together. Hadid has also vacationed frequently at Swift’s Rhode Island mansion, including at the pop star’s famed Fourth of July parties.
When Hadid began dating actor Bradley Cooper, 51, in the fall of 2023, Swift offered her Rhode Island home for the new couple to have a private getaway. According to reports, Hadid and Cooper dating helped to bring Swift and Hadid even closer together, as Swift, by then with Travis Kelce, 36, often went on double dates with Hadid and Cooper.
Over the course of their friendship, the women have exchanged a number of deeply personal gifts.
When Hadid gave birth to her daughter Khai in 2020, Swift gifted her a hand-made blanket and a teddy bear for the baby. In 2024, Hadid commissioned a custom ring for Swift as an apparent gift for the release of the singer’s 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department; the ring featured a portrait of Swift’s cat, as well as Swift’s favorite number 13, and Kelce’s jersey number, 87.
Hadid’s ascent to Swift’s bestie is just one of many headlines that Swift’s close friendships over the years.
Her best friendship with supermodel Karlie Kloss, 33, landed the two the cover of American Vogue, where Swift revealed in the interview that she kept a room in her vacation home made up especially for when Kloss visited, complete with Kloss’s favorite snacks.
Hadid has been a constant presence in Swift’s life
Hadid has also vacationed frequently at Swift’s Rhode Island mansion, including at the pop star’s famed Fourth of July parties
Hadid began dating actor Bradley Cooper in the fall of 2023
Hadid and Cooper often went on double dates with Swift and Kelce
Hadid gave birth to her daughter Khai in 2020, Swift gifted her a hand-made blanket and a teddy bear for the baby
But that friendship allegedly began to show cracks when Swift was in a dispute over her masters with talent agent Scooter Braun, 45, whose then-wife Yael Cohen, 39, was a close friend of Kloss. In the wake of this apparent fallout, Swift notably did not attend Kloss’s 2018 wedding to Joshua Kushner, 41.
Another left shivering in a chilling friendship with Swift is actress Blake Lively, 38. Swift was reportedly embarrassed when texts between her and Lively were made public amid Lively’s legal battle with Justin Baldoni, 42.
In the unsealed messages, Swift, who has been friends with Lively for a decade and is godmother to Lively’s three daughters with Ryan Reynolds, 49, admitted to feeling ‘distance’ from Lively.
Reynolds and Lively were spotted three hundred miles outside the city, in upstate New York’s Lake Placid, ahead of the wedding festivities.
Once Lively was so close she might have fancied herself Swift’s maid of honor. The same could be said of Anderson Berard.
But if Swift’s choices in the past days are anything to go by, it seems Hadid, while not a bridesmaid, was the friend who was closest to the singer when she tied the knot.
