Taylor Swift and Karlie Kloss appeared to revive their once-famous friendship on Sunday, laughing together at Arrowhead Stadium as they watched Swift’s husband, Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce, take the field.
Swift’s mother, Andrea, was seated nearby, adding to the warm atmosphere inside the lavish suite. There was no visible sign of the tension that has long surrounded the former best friends.
Their reunion marks a striking turnaround for a friendship widely believed to have ended years ago.
One insider told Our News Outlet that supermodel Kloss was once “even closer” to Swift than Blake Lively, whose relationship with the singer reportedly deteriorated after Swift became entangled in Lively’s legal dispute with actor and director Justin Baldoni.
“There wasn’t anything they didn’t confide in each other about,” the insider said of Swift and Kloss. “Then, seemingly overnight, their friendship fell apart.”
What caused the dramatic split?
Karlie Kloss and Taylor Swift reunited at Swift’s husband Travis Kelce’s game on Sunday
An insider said the pair had “no communication for years” before this reunion (pictured in 2014)
According to sources, Scooter Braun was at the center of the fallout. The explanation appears to support long-standing speculation that Kloss’s professional relationship with the music executive — who has also been a longtime adversary of Swift — helped drive the friends apart.
“The breakdown between Taylor and Karlie was never simply a case of two friends falling out,” one insider told us. “Much of the strain came back to Scooter Braun.”
Kloss, now 34, had been represented by Braun for years. That changed the dynamic in June 2019, when Braun purchased Swift’s former record label, Big Machine, in a deal worth $300 million. The acquisition included the master recordings of Swift’s first six albums.
Swift, 36, viewed the deal as a major betrayal, leaving Kloss caught between her friendship with the singer and her professional ties to Braun.
“Karlie was placed in a very difficult position, trying to remain close to Taylor while being managed by Scooter, despite Taylor’s well-known history with him,” the source said.
“Taylor was understandably upset by Karlie’s connection to Scooter, and it added another complication to an already sensitive situation. Sadly, that association began to overshadow what had once been a very authentic friendship.”
The insider claimed that even some members of Swift’s famous girl squad believed she was being too unforgiving toward Kloss. “A few of Taylor’s friends told her she should move past it,” the source said.
Still, the friendship between the cookie-baking confidantes appeared to be over.
Seven years later, however, the pair are once again appearing side by side — and Kloss seemingly has a place in Swift’s inner circle again.
Kloss and her businessman husband, Joshua Kushner, were among the high-profile guests at Swift and Kelce’s wedding at Madison Square Garden in July. Lena Dunham, Gigi Hadid and the Haim sisters were also reportedly in attendance.
As Swift walked down the aisle, Kloss was nearby with tissues in hand.
“Karlie was crying for Taylor at the wedding. She was genuinely so happy for her,” the insider said.
The reconciliation has stunned Swifties, particularly because the singer is known for rarely reopening doors once she has removed someone from her life.
“When Taylor cuts someone off, it is almost always permanent. Second chances are not usually her style.”
For years, Kloss seemed destined to remain an exception. So what finally brought the two women back together?
“The divide came down to Karlie’s connection to Scooter [Braun],” a second source said (Scooter Braun pictured in 2020)
The reunion has surprised Swift watchers, especially because, as an insider noted, Taylor rarely gives people a second chance (Swift and Kloss pictured in 2014)
The insider said Kloss was once “even closer” to Swift than Blake Lively, the former friend reportedly distanced from the singer after Swift became involved in Lively’s legal dispute with Justin Baldoni (pictured, Gigi Hadid, Blake Lively, Swift and Keleigh Teller in 2023) (Source: Keleigh Teller/Instagram)
The second source said Braun needed to be removed from the equation before a reconciliation could happen.
“Once Karlie was no longer managed by him, there was room for their friendship to begin again,” the source said. “Time has softened the hurt. Scooter is no longer the link between them, so there is no reason to keep carrying the resentment from that chapter.”
Braun, 45, eventually stepped away from artist management. In June 2024, he announced that he was “a manager no more.”
“Any awkwardness or hurt from that time is now in the past,” the source added. “They have both grown and moved forward. Their friendship needed distance, but they now understand how important they still are to each other.”
The first insider said the reconciliation may have begun even earlier, following an unexpected meeting in New York.
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“They crossed paths in New York about four years ago. It was probably uncomfortable at first, but they share so much history that they simply embraced.”
Their connection stretches back more than a decade. In a 2012 Vogue interview, Swift famously said: “I love Karlie Kloss. I want to bake cookies with her!”
The pair were first photographed together publicly the following year at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, and their friendship quickly became a fixture in celebrity culture.
In 2014, Kloss chronicled a road trip with Swift through a series of heavily filtered Instagram posts, while the two were frequently seen together around New York City. A year later, they appeared together on the cover of Vogue.
That same year, Kloss joined Swift’s celebrity-packed “Bad Blood” music video and later performed alongside the singer’s girl squad during the 1989 tour.
Kloss and Swift remained close for years before speculation about a friendship breakdown began
Kloss and her husband Joshua Kushner leave for Swift’s wedding
The first major public complication came in February 2016, when Kanye West released “Famous,” featuring the controversial lyric: “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / I made that b***h famous.”
Swift said she had never approved the lyric. Months later, Kim Kardashian, who was married to West at the time, released footage of a phone call between the rapper and Swift, claiming it showed that the singer had been informed. The controversy sparked a flood of snake emojis and left Swift saying she felt “lower than ever.”
When Kloss was asked about Kardashian by The Times just weeks later, she appeared visibly cautious.
“Ha… you know… I honestly… I…” she began, before adding: “I think she’s been a lovely person to me in the past.”
While the answer was diplomatic, many fans interpreted it as a sign that the relationship between Swift and Kloss had begun to fracture.
Kloss later pushed back against the speculation on Twitter. “I will not allow the media to misconstrue my words,” she wrote. “Taylor has always had my back and I will always have hers. I will never be the girl that you can use to pit women against each other.”
The first insider said the comment had “bugged” Swift, but the second source strongly denied that Kardashian was responsible for the eventual split.
In fact, on Swift’s birthday that year, Kloss described her as her “friend, sister and partner in crime.”
Some believed Kim Kardashian drove a wedge between Swift and Kloss, a theory the second insider firmly rejected (Swift, West and Kardashian in 2015)
“The rift between Taylor and Karlie was never simply two friends falling out,” an insider said. “Much of the tension came down to Scooter Braun.”
Sources have suggested politics may have created further strain, as Kloss’s husband Joshua Kushner is the brother of Jared Kushner, who is married to Ivanka Trump. Donald Trump has previously said he “hates” Swift (Ivanka Trump, Dasha Zhukova and Kloss pictured in 2016)
By 2017, however, rumors that Swift and Kloss had permanently fallen out had become more persistent. Earlier reports suggested Swift had grown suspicious of Kloss’s motives and increasingly uncomfortable with her close association with Braun.
The dispute over Swift’s masters eventually led the singer to re-record her earlier albums, before reclaiming the original recordings in 2025.
Kloss, meanwhile, continued to maintain a relationship with Braun.
Braun attended Kloss’s second wedding celebration with Kushner in June 2019, an event Swift did not attend. Soon after Swift publicly criticized Braun, he posted vacation photos with the couple captioned “week of laughter.”
Politics may also have added to the speculation. Kushner’s brother Jared is married to Ivanka Trump, while Donald Trump — a political opponent of the Democrat-leaning singer — has previously said that he “hates” Swift.
Although Kloss occasionally voiced support for Swift, fans increasingly assumed their friendship was finished. Some Swifties even interpreted a line about “the words of a sister” returning “back in whispers” in Swift’s 2020 song “It’s Time to Go” as a possible reference to Kloss.
When Kloss attended Swift’s Eras Tour show in Los Angeles in August 2023, she was notably not seen in the VIP tent.
That unexpected New York embrace, however, appears to have changed everything.
On Sunday, Kloss brought her five-year-old son, Levi, to the suite, where she sat with Swift and the singer’s parents, Andrea and Scott.
“They are back to how they were years ago,” the insider said. “They are as close as ever.”
The second source echoed that assessment: “Scooter remains the one person Taylor and Karlie will never agree on. But they can laugh about it now. Karlie and Taylor are ride or die.”
The phrase carries added meaning, since Kloss once used those same words while celebrating Swift in birthday tributes.
Our News Outlet has contacted representatives for Swift, Kloss and Braun for comment.
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