Queen Elizabeth II was a horse girl. Her mother was a horse girl too. Both mother and daughter were obsessed with everything about horses and horse racing and horse breeding. QEII spent decades building her stable of champion racehorses. Her horses were one of her biggest passions and greatest loves. Her children and many of her grandchildren are keen on horses too, from polo ponies to show-jumping horses to race horses. Charles played polo for years, as did his sons. Anne is an accomplished equestrian, as is her daughter Zara. So it definitely seems weird that in recent weeks, there’s been so much conversation about “what will Charles do with his mother’s horses?” The horse operation belongs to him entirely, but he could easily pass everything off to his wife, or to Anne, or William or even the Wessexes. Instead, Charles has decided to sell off some his mother’s collection: he’s selling fourteen broodmares.

BBC News reports that the King is selling 14 of the late monarch’s ‘brood mares’ through Tattersalls auction house in Newmarket, including celebrated runners Just Fine (trained by Sir Michael Stoute, the man behind over 100 royal winners) and Love Affairs. As well as being a keen rider and an eager racegoer – often spotted cheering on her runners from Ascot’s Royal Enclosure – the Queen took an active interest in breeding racehorses at Sandringham’s Royal Stud, which she inherited from her own father, King George VI.

Tattersall spokesman Jimmy George stressed that the Royal Family would be continuing their close ties to the sport, stating: ‘It’s nothing out of the ordinary. Every year they would sell horses. The Queen had brood mares of her own, she would breed them and sell them. You can’t keep them all… Every year owners sell stock. His Majesty is just doing what owners do.’

The monarch’s former racing manager John Warren once described horses as a ‘tremendous getaway’ for the monarch, reflecting: ‘I’m sure if the Queen had not been bred into being a monarch she would have found a vocation with horses. It was just simply in her DNA.’ He credited her role in championing the sport with helping to raise the profile of British racing.

[From Tatler]

They’re trying to put a bow on it, but the most likely scenario here is that King Charles isn’t going to “pass off” any part of the operation to a family member, and he’ll simply sell off his late mother’s horses in smaller groups. And for what purpose? Even if horses aren’t your bag, if your mother spent decades breeding horses and it was one of her great passions and investments, wouldn’t you try to maintain her stable? Especially since Charles has the money and personnel to do just that – it’s not like he’s the one feeding them and mucking about in the stables, for goodness sake. This is pointed – he’s actively destroying the one thing his mother truly loved.

I tweeted about this yesterday, but for all of the talk of how the Sussexes “upset” QEII for this or that and how Liz would be “turning in her grave” over something to do with Harry and Meghan, THIS is actually what would bother her: her son selling off all of her precious horses. And Charles is doing it specifically because his mother loved her horses so much.

Photos courtesy of Instar, Avalon Red, Cover Images and Andrew Milligan / Avalon.

The Duchess of Sussex’s new Archetypes podcast is out!! This week’s episode is “Upending the ‘Angry Black Woman’ Myth with Issa Rae and Ziwe.” Considering all of the sh-t that’s still thrown at Meghan to this very day, you would think that she could have just sat there and talked solo and told all of her stories about how an entire national media smeared her as an angry “bully” who makes white women cry. Meghan doesn’t start out with personal stories though – she discusses the same book she and Harry have referenced many time, Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism by Safiya Umoja Noble. She talks about the trope of “angry Black women” and how that’s not only reinforced by society, but by online algorithms. Here’s the episode:

Meghan starts the conversation with Ziwe, and Meghan reveals that she took one of those genetic tests and it turns out that she’s 43% Nigerian. Ziwe is so excited to hear that and she says that Meghan being part Nigerian is huge for the Nigerian community. Ziwe talks about how she tries to emulate her favorite (white, male) talk show interviewers, but the reaction to her is so different.

I find the normal-conversation part of Archetypes to be so cool – like, I could listen to Meghan and Issa Rae talk about coffee for a while (I don’t drink coffee either, and it’s fascinating to me that Meghan didn’t drink coffee for years in her 30s). Meghan gives Issa her flowers for creating Insecure, for creating a show about how real Black women look, sound, love and live. Issa talks about wanting to create a more nuanced image of Black women on television, and that it’s not just all positive or all negative. Issa talked about the first notes she got from HBO, which is that the name “Insecure” should be changed because the characters were “fierce” and “strong.” Issa was like, no, we need to show people really living.

There’s tons more in this pod – the conversation about Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearings and how utterly infuriating they were to watch as white senators tried to bait Brown Jackson into “looking angry.”

Photos courtesy of Spotify, Avalon Red, JPI Studios/Avalon, Robin Platzer/Twin Images/Avalon.

I was talking to my brother the other day about how much healthier we stayed wearing masks that we will probably keep them on in crowded environments like planes/airports and public transportation from now on. And it looks like we made the right decision because maybe they’ll help with this latest health crisis. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) cases are surging and since it poses such a threat to young children, many children’s hospitals are at capacity. One of the issues is RSV is a late fall/winter virus but it’s been surging in summer months since last year. That’s a problem in and of itself but especially because it means kids brought it into the school year. With schools and daycare programs back to full attendance and no mask mandates, there’s more and more cases every day.

An unseasonably early spike in respiratory syncytial virus cases among young children is pushing some hospitals to capacity.

RSV, as it’s called, is a respiratory virus that mostly manifests as a mild illness with cold-like symptoms in adults but can cause pneumonia and bronchiolitis in very young children. It can be life-threatening in infants and young adults.

Most years, infections typically occur in the late fall and winter, often overlapping with flu season. But at least since last year, physicians have begun seeing surges starting during summer months.

“Last year, more people were wearing face masks and children were more likely to stay home while sick,” Dr. Laura Romano said in Cook Children’s in-house publication.

“This year, parents are sending their children to daycare and school for the first time following two years of the pandemic. … Children who haven’t been previously exposed to respiratory viruses are getting sick,” Romano said.

Health officials in King County, Wash., are also alarmed as they brace for more cases once winter hits. Dr. Russell Migita with Seattle Children’s Hospital told King 5 News they are seeing about 20 to 30 positive cases every day, adding that those are “unprecedented” figures.

RSV symptoms are similar to a cold and can be harmless in adults, but the CDC says children under the age of 5 are the most affected group. According to the agency’s data, each year approximately 58,000 children in that age range are hospitalized for RSV. The next most vulnerable group are adults over 65, in whom the infection causes 14,000 deaths a year.

RSV can lead to bronchiolitis, an infection that causes airways to become inflamed and clogged with mucus, making it difficult to breathe. If the infection travels to the lung sacs, it can result in pneumonia.

Dr. Sara Goza, physician and former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, talked to NPR last year about how the infection presents in infants.

“A lot of the babies under a year of age will have trouble breathing. They stop eating because they can’t breathe and eat at the same time. And they’re wheezing, so they’re in respiratory distress,” Goza said.

Other symptoms include coughing, excessive sleeping and lethargy.

[From NPR]

There is a lot of information there so let me reiterate a few key points. Kids under five are the most vulnerable and run the risk of being hospitalized with extended health issues. Next to them are adults over 65 with the risk of death. RSV is life threatening to everyone, though, so do not leave it untreated. The bad news, not that any of this news is good, is that there is no vaccine for RSV. However, the medical community says make sure to get the flu vaccine, so flu symptoms don’t aggravate RSV symptoms. In addition, wash hands, wear masks and encourage everyone around you to do the same.

Most parents have to send their kids to either daycare or school, which may mean exposure to RSV is unavoidable. As the article said, younger kids haven’t been exposed to RSV, so they are more susceptible. Look for the symptoms mentioned above, especially if there’s lethargy and lack of appetite associated with cold-like symptoms, and check with your doctor if you suspect anything.

Remember when we were all just sacred of the Bogey Man this time of year?

Photo credit: Tima Miroshnichenko and Gustavo Fring of Pexels

As I covered recently, Anna (Delvey) Sorokin is out of jail/detention. She is on house arrest, accessorized with an ankle monitor. And in a far cry from the luxurious accommodations from her scam days, she is ensconced in an East Village walkup. Oh how the mighty have fallen. Anna’s first interview upon her release was with The New York Times and now she’s sat down with CNN’s Jake Tapper to talk about her crimes, her state of mind, and what’s next for her. Jake definitely presses her on tough questions and Anna is ridiculous with most of her non-answers.

Fake German heiress Anna ‘Delvey’ Sorokin said she wants a ‘second chance’ to stay in the US so she can ‘change the narrative’ of her elaborate cons after spending 18 months in prison.

Sorokin, 31, was put under house arrest on Friday after 18 months in ICE custody. The judge ruled she was not a danger to the public as she posted $10,000 bond.

‘I feel like I deserve a second chance, it was my mistake that I made and I served my time and I feel like I should deserve a second opportunity,’ she said in a CNN interview on Tuesday from her East Village apartment in New York City.

The interview also gave a look inside Sorokin’s apartment, which featured a piece of art depicting a mock newspaper called ‘The Delvey Crimes.’

Sorokin faces deportation to Germany after completing her criminal sentence in February 2021 – for convictions of grand larceny and thefts totaling $275,000, including stealing at least one flight on a private jet.

‘I feel like if I were to leave and say “oh whatever I’m just going to move on and like move to Europe” I would be like accepting the labels that they are trying to slap on me,’ she said of her potential deportation.

Sorokin was seen sporting an ankle monitor, as she is not officially out of ICE custody.

The Russian-born fraudster is also prohibited from using social media, but says she still feels she is ‘getting a second chance to fix my mistakes.’

She claimed that the media have portrayed her in an unfair way, and that portrayal led to her prosecution in 2019.

‘They kind of created this idea of me and I’m just being left to deal with it,’ she said. ‘I’m trying to not glamorize my crimes and not lead anybody to believe that’s the way to get famous.’

Sorokin said she ‘suffered a lot’ as a result of the bad media, but also said ‘I’m not going to go on TV and cry.’

When pressed about her regrets over her scams, Sorokin admitted she ‘definitely did’ take advantage of people.

‘I was younger and I learned from my mistakes,’ she said.

But she also said her crimes would not be so famous if they were done in a different country, implying Americans have a liking for famous fraudsters.

‘I was thinking if I were to be prosecuted in Germany, I don’t think people would really care,’ she said.

Sorokin was spotted on the way to her first parole hearing on Tuesday, as she continues to face deportation proceedings.

[From The Daily Mail]

First of all, that’s a hideous blouse. Second of all, her accent. It’s not as pronounced as what Julia Garner was doing in the series, and Jake mentions that and Anna explains it away as fading due to her time stateside, but it’s still unmistakable. This was my first time ever seeing the real Anna speak on video at length. And is it me, or have her scam skills atrophied while she was in prison? It seemed like Anna was going for a coquettish thing that didn’t really work at some points. But it was also very apparent when she was lying — she couldn’t look Jake in the eye and she kept looking down or to the side. Maybe it was part of a ploy, but probably not because the questions where her answers were clearly lies were the ones about whether or not she felt sorry about what she’d done. Anna said she was sorry, but she’s clearly not, and I can’t see why she would want the perception that she’s not sorry out there so I’m just left with the impression that she’s not as good of a liar as I’d expect a scammer to be.

I did find it hilariously sniffy and entitled that she was so adamant about the distinction between stealing from friends and financial institutions. And keeps saying she was young, as if that were an excuse. And I continue to find it infuriating that she was able to just nope out of deportation. But I will admit she does make a good point about the too similar detention and deportation treatment between those who simply overstay their visas and those who commit violent crimes. If only she’d taken it a step further and noted the disparate treatment of those who just don’t want to go back to Europe so they can continue to be notorious in the US.

Embed from Getty Images

photos are screenshots from YouTube/CNN and credit Getty and Nicole Rivelli/Netflix

Ana de Armas covers AnOther Magazine to promote Blonde, for which she wants an Oscar nomination. No, scratch that – I think Ana is being told to promote the hell out of Blonde because an Oscar nom might be on the table, but that doesn’t mean that she’s actually trying to get nominated. I think she’s fine with whatever happens – it’s clear that she fell deeply in love with Marilyn Monroe and MM’s iconography, beauty, tragedy and trauma. She’s promoting this so hard because she’s actually proud of her performance and the film, however exploitative, stupid, offensive and ridiculous. You can read the full piece here (it’s super-long). Some highlights:

The cast & crew signed a card and left it at Marilyn’s crypt: “We got this big card and everyone in the crew wrote a message to her. Then we went to the cemetery and put it on her grave. We were asking for permission in a way. Everyone felt a huge responsibility, and we were very aware of the side of the story we were going to tell – the story of Norma Jeane, the person behind this character, Marilyn Monroe. Who was she really?”

Norma Jeane vs. Marilyn: “The more famous Marilyn became, the more invisible Norma Jeane became – Norma was this person no one ever actually met. And Marilyn was someone even she herself talked about in the third person. In some ways Marilyn saved her, gave her a life, but at the same time she became her prison.”

Cuban dreams: “I grew up watching everything from Titanic to The Terminator, but I always knew that reality was so far from my reality. Kids in the US, they believe they can be princesses because you can buy a princess dress and a princess crown and become one. I never had that. I didn’t even know what an apple tasted like.”

Trying to do Marilyn’s voice: “It just wasn’t working when I tried to imitate the sound or the pitch. Marilyn’s voice, her expressions, were a consequence of the speech classes she took herself, of her insecurities, of her not having any boundaries and letting people in, of playing this part of having to be rescued all the time. So I had to know what she was thinking and feeling every time. Because the way she rounded her lips for the ‘O’s, or how much of her lower teeth she would show, what her eyebrows were doing, all these expressions were a consequence of Marilyn in survival mode. They were tricks that she was pulling in desperate circumstances.”

Marilyn couldn’t afford to be angry: “In some early scenes I played it way too strong. I got defensive and angry and Andrew said, ‘You’re not allowed to get angry. Ever. Anger is not something Norma can afford.’ Well, can you imagine what that does to a person? At its heart the movie is about her looking for an absent father. Part of the reason I think she became Marilyn Monroe was to be so visible there’s no way he could not find her. You see how a childhood of feeling unloved and unwanted led her to need love, attention, need someone with her always. So I thought, OK, if I can’t get angry, what are my options? How else can I survive? And I started to explore all these other feelings.”

The violence against Marilyn: “We tried to show the fight she had to put up, not just to be successful, but to survive. What she went through was dark. So dark. When you know that, f–k, I love her more. So the whole point is not bringing down the myth, the point is humanising this icon and making her real, a real woman going through all these different kinds of abuses and situations. And as a woman today I can easily understand how you could find yourself in that situation. So, yes, there are scenes that are hard to watch. But I don’t think this movie has anything sensational or exploitative or gratuitous in it. In many of the scenes people are talking about, you don’t actually see anything. You just know what is happening and that it’s coming from a place of zero love. I do think the audience will feel uncomfortable – because she is uncomfortable. When she feels dirty, you feel that the scene is dirty. It’s all in the way it makes you feel.”

Filming in the home in which Marilyn died: “Those final scenes at her house – I know she was there with us. We all felt it. And I think you can feel that in the movie.”

[From AnOther Magazine]

One of the interesting things I learned from this profile is that Ana not only reread Joyce Carol Oates’ Blonde several times, but Ana also sought out other Monroe material, including Truman Capote’s excellent essay, “A Beautiful Child.” Capote gave Marilyn more depth, agency, humor and sweetness in one essay than Oates did in an entire book, doubly so for the movie. “I don’t think this movie has anything sensational or exploitative or gratuitous in it…” That’s a damn lie. The book is exploitative as hell, and there’s a reason why the film got an NC-17 rating, even with months of edits. It IS a very specific kind of torture-p0rn and I hate that Oates’ book was the only real source material.

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Khloe Kardashian addresses Kanye West’s anti-Semitic hate speech. [Just Jared]
It sounds like Lana del Rey lost years of work. [OMG Blog]
I think the “Karen” Halloween decoration is clever. It’s hilarious that Karens complained about it and had it removed. [Dlisted]
Lainey’s take on Taylor Swift’s Midnights. [LaineyGossip]
Marion Cotillard & others attend a party for Chanel’s jewelry line. [RCFA]
I remember when Lara Logan was a respected journalist and to see her turn into a fascist lunatic is shocking and disturbing. [Jezebel]
I’m in love with Boris Kodjoe & his hoodie. [Go Fug Yourself]
Has Taylor Swift outgrown Easter eggs? [Gawker]
Recap of Andor, Episode 7 (spoilers). [Pajiba]
Every day is Halloween when you dress up in Balenciaga. [Egotastic]
Liz Cheney talks about whether Donald Trump will testify before the January 6th Committee and whether it will be a circus. [Buzzfeed]
Nancy Pelosi says Donald Trump isn’t man enough to testify. [Towleroad]

Boris Johnson withdrew from the Tory leadership race yesterday, and then today, Penny Mordaunt withdrew. Their withdrawals meant that Rishi Sunak is the new British prime minister. The third prime minister in seven weeks, the third prime minister is less than two full menstrual cycles. Sunak is also the first person of color to ever serve as prime minister – he’s the son of Indian immigrants, so he’s the first British Asian person to run the government and the first Hindu! Happy Diwali, Mr. Prime Minister.

Rishi Sunak will become Britain’s next prime minister, prevailing in a chaotic Conservative Party leadership race on Monday after his remaining rival for the position, Penny Mordaunt, withdrew. He will be Britain’s third leader in seven weeks and the first prime minister of color in its history.

The 42-year-old former chancellor of the Exchequer who is the son of Indian immigrants, Mr. Sunak won the contest to replace the ousted Liz Truss, who resigned under pressure last Thursday after her economic agenda caused turmoil.

King Charles III is returning to London this afternoon from Sandringham, the family’s country retreat in Norfolk. Rishi Sunak must see him to be officially installed as prime minister, after Liz Truss relinquishes the job.

[From The NY Times]

Interesting that King Charles was in Sandringham this weekend? KC3 will have to meet with Sunak and this will be the first time that the prime minister has to kiss Charles’s hand and ask to form a government in his name. Liz Truss had to do the hand-kiss thing with QEII, I doubt she had to do it again for Charles (especially given that Truss arguably gave the kiss of death). Sunak’s big claim to fame recently was that he warned the Tory party that Truss’s economic policies would crash the British economy. Which they did. Still, people are mad because they want a f–king general election and they probably won’t get one for a while.

Photos courtesy of Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon and Imageplotter/Avalon.

Honestly, plans for King Charles III have just begun. The coronation committee has probably only had a few meetings, if that. All of the focus on whether Queen Camilla will wear the Koh-i-noor is important, but the conversation probably took Charles by surprise given how little is in place at this point for his May 2023 coronation. That’s what this new Telegraph story is about, how everything needs to be planned and how Charles has put William in a major position of power on the coronation committee, and how this whole thing will probably be done smaller and on a budget. Some highlights:

Prince William’s active role: The Prince of Wales is to take an “active role” in planning the coronation of his father King Charles. The Prince, who is likely to also have a place in the May 6 ceremony itself, is expected to join those on the King’s coronation committee in the coming months to help set the tone for the event. The King’s eldest son will have an active advisory position, taking a keen interest in the ceremony and how it reflects modern Britain. He and the Princess of Wales are likely – but not confirmed – to have a role in the Westminster Abbey event, with discussions currently under way about how it can be modernised and shortened from the spectacular celebrations for the late Queen.

Zero clarity about Prince Harry: There is less clarity over the King’s younger son, the Duke of Sussex, who is no longer a working member of the Royal family.

Charles will probably do a “civil” coronation outside of the church too: The coronation committee will recommend considering a separate civil ceremony at Westminster Hall or in Horse Guards Parade as a “venture of ‘recognition’ of the new monarch outside the religious canopy”.

The coronation won’t be about the “British empire,” it will be about the “united kingdom”: With both Brexit and the Scottish independence referendum adding to “pressures on the monarchy to be a symbol of national unity”, it finds, the coronation should better reflect the Union as well as reducing any previous Imperial associations – to acknowledge that Britain is no longer a “truly international power”.

It should be smaller, less feudal & not so archaic: Dr Bob Harris, of The Constitution Unit at UCL, writes: “The UK no longer has the capacity to mount anything like this spectacle, nor should it do so in straitened times. The next coronation will inevitably be smaller. Archaic elements such as the Court of Claims could be dropped. So should the homage, and thought be given to how the King as head of the nation should be enabled early in the reign to signify support for, and encouragement of, modern civil society. A modernised form of homage could take place, for example, in Westminster Hall, or in a procession on Horse Guards Parade.”

Modern Peg: The involvement of the Prince of Wales in planning the May coronation will be welcomed by royalists as a sign of continuity between the generations and the closer working relationship between the King and his heir. The Prince will, at age of 40, naturally represent the concerns of his own generation, with an eye to modernising the monarchy for the sake of its future.

[From The Telegraph]

It’s funny that the Telegraph’s sources can’t even make it sound like William has even taken an interest in his father’s coronation thus far. Everything is in the future tense – William “will” do such and such, he’s looking forward to eventually advising the committee, he will tell them to do this and that. Why does it feel like Charles is telling his son “this is what you need to be doing” and William is ignoring him and f–king off to Norfolk? The only part of the planning of interest to William will be finding a way to be cruel to Harry. Anyway, this coronation already sounds like a bummer – whoops, Britain is no longer a global power or an empire, whoops, our prime minister was outlasted by a head of lettuce, whoops the British pound is in free fall, whoops, the crown prince is a lazy lightweight who still refuses to do any work. KC3 is going to have to bribe Kate with significant jewels to get her to do jacksh-t too.

Photos courtesy of Instar.

Dixie D’Amelio, 21, is the older sister of TikTok star Charlie D’Amelio and she’s a very popular influencer too. I’ve heard of her through her family’s reality series, The D’Amelio Show, which I admittedly haven’t watched. Dixie recently revealed that she’s been diagnosed with premenstrual dysphoric disorder, or PMDD, a more severe form of PMS which can severely affect mood. She’d been dealing with this for years before she got a diagnosis. It sounds like it was a relief to her to realize what was wrong. I appreciate that Dixie is opening up about her mental health struggles though and wanted to talk about it. Trigger warning on this content as she talks about feeling suicidal.

“I wasn’t feeling great and not really sure why,” she began. “I recently got diagnosed with this thing called PMDD, which is premenstrual dysphoric disorder.”

PMDD, a more severe form of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), is a chronic medical condition that can cause extreme mood shifts and symptoms like depression, anxiety, irritability, insomnia and more.

“It really affects your moods and your behavior and many different parts of your life,” D’Amelio continued. “I feel like I didn’t realize how much it was affecting me until I got to this point I was in last week.”

She said that for two weeks each month the condition “really disrupts” her life, impacting her attitude, personality, relationships and anxiety.

“I have never been so low … and having no idea what was wrong with me was very alarming,” she explained. “I just felt like I had no control over my body or mind and I had no idea what was wrong but it would turn on and off like a light switch.”

“That was very confusing to me because how can I go one day feeling fine and then the next day not wanting to be here anymore?” D’Amelio continued, admitting that she was struggling with suicidal thoughts.

The social media influencer said the condition is something she’s dealt with for the past seven years but was only recently diagnosed. “I’m very happy that I know what’s wrong because now I can find better ways to handle my emotions.

“I’m feeling better now and I will probably be going through the same thing next month and the month after that,” she added, sharing that she’s still learning about PMDD.

[From People]

That just sounds awful. Hormones can seriously disrupt our lives. I wasn’t familiar with it before this and I really appreciate it when famous people open up about what they’re going through. It definitely helps raise awareness. While I’m on the other side of this now and dealing with perimenopause I remember how hard it was when I was younger too. Health.Harvard.Edu has more on PMDD including how it is diagnosed and treated. It sounds like a multifaceted approach with lifestyle changes and medication is most effective. If you suspect that you or a loved one has PMDD please reach out to a doctor for treatment.

Also her hair is so cute!

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Taylor Swift’s Midnights was released last week, and obviously, it’s already breaking all kinds of records. It broke the record for the most Spotify streams in a single day. The album is already the best-selling album of the year, sorry to Beyonce, Adele and Harry Styles. Even I took some time to listen to the album, or as much as I could bear. Like, I’m not part of the Snake Fam whatsoever, but I genuinely think that Taylor has some bops. I enjoyed several songs from Folklore, although I never really got into evermore. Midnights seems to aim to have the more lowkey energy of Folklore, with some of the pop sensibilities of Lover. One of the songs stuck out to me: “Vigilante Sh-t.” The message of the song is: I’m coming for my enemies and I’m helping women hunt for their enemies. Here’s the song:

Spiritually, this feels like the sister track to Reputation’s “I Did Something Bad,” which, in my opinion, was one of the few good songs on Reputation. The lyrics have caused a lot of Snake Conspiracy Theorists to wonder just who Taylor is referencing, especially with “She needed cold, hard proof, so I gave her some/She had the envelope, where you think she got it from?/Now she gets the house, gets the kids, gets the pride/Picture me thick as thieves with your ex-wife.” I also wonder about: “While he was doin’ lines and crossin’ all of mine/Someone told his white-collar crimes to the FBI.”

Some fans insist that at least some of these lyrics are referencing Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. My opinion: Taylor still hates both Kim AND Kanye pretty equally, so no, she’s not giving “proof” to Kim, although Taylor would absolutely turn Kanye over to the FBI. Now, other Swifities suggest that Taylor is referencing Scooter Braun’s now-ex-wife Yael Cohen. Cohen filed for divorce from Scooter last year, and the divorce was finalized recently. Cohen got a $20 million settlement and he has to pay $60K a month in child support. Yeah… Scooter’s net worth is in the hundreds of millions of dollars. I’m sure Yael had dirt on Scooter, but I have my doubts as to whether Taylor provided that dirt. I don’t know. It’s interesting though.

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Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Taylor Swift’s social media.