“Miss Americana” marked one of the first times that Taylor Swift spoke about her experience with media-induced body shaming. However, Swift’s body shaming didn’t come only from media outlets and mean-spirited fans. Swift also experienced it with some of her fellow stars. Singer Demi Lovato, who seemingly once hated Swift (and vice versa) decried Swift’s controversial girl squad, which was mostly composed of other tall, slender beauties. “To be honest, and this will probably get me in trouble, I don’t see anybody in any sort of squad that has a normal body,” Lovato shared with Glamour in 2016. “It’s kind of this false image of what people should look like. And what they should be like, and it’s not real.”
Ultimately, Lovato was taken to task for branding people who looked like Swift and her friends as not being “normal” or realistic. According to E! News, a source close to Swift explained the bond between her and her squad, which once included Gigi Hadid and Zendaya. “Taylor has a tight group of women in her life that all have her and each others’ back and sometimes people just want that,” said the source. “She thought it was unnecessary for her to make those comments.”
Comic Nikki Glaser also once made unflattering comments about Swift’s weight, which the singer included in her documentary. During her Instagram apology, Glaser revealed that she actually loved Swift, and may have been projecting her own insecurities about body image onto her. “This quote should be used as an example of “projection” in PSYCH101 textbooks,” wrote Glaser.
