Once upon a time, several eras ago, Taylor Swift assembled a coalition of models, actresses and musicians for the “Bad Blood” music video, which premiered at the Billboard Music Awards in May 2015.
Some of the featured stars were Swift’s besties, like her to-this-day ride-or-die Selena Gomez and her who-knows-what-exactly-happened-there former friend Karlie Kloss.
Other famous faces made the cut due to Swift’s admiration for their work, like Mariska Hargitay and Ellen Pompeo. (The “Delicate” singer named two of her cats after Hargitay and Pompeo’s iconic television characters, Law and Order: SVU’s Olivia Benson and Grey’s Anatomy’s Meredith Grey, respectively.)
While the video showed off Swift’s extensive friend group, the song itself is about a friendship turned sour, and is widely rumoroed to be about the pop star’s feud with Katy Perry. (The two singers publicly reconciled when they embraced during Swift’s “You Need to Calm Down” music video in 2019).
Although Swift no longer parades her pals and idols around onstage as she did during the 1989 World Tour, the “Bad Blood” video lives on as a relic from her days as a squad ringleader.
Keep scrolling to see what the cast of the “Bad Blood” music video is doing now:
Taylor Swift
Nearly four years after the “Bad Blood” video premiered, Swift hinted at why her once-massive friend group had seemingly disbanded.
In a March 2019 essay for Elle, the Grammy winner counted “learning the difference between lifelong friendships and situationships” as one piece of wisdom she gained in her 20s.
“Something about ‘We’re in our young twenties!’ hurls people together into groups that can feel like your chosen family. And maybe they will be for the rest of your life. Or maybe they’ll just be your comrades for an important phase, but not forever,” wrote Swift. “It’s sad but sometimes when you grow, you outgrow relationships. You may leave behind friendships along the way, but you’ll always keep the memories.”
Since releasing her fifth studio album, 1989 — which includes “Bad Blood” — Swift has gone on to pen five more albums to date: Reputation (2017) Lover (2019), Folklore (2020), Evermore (2020) and Midnights (2022). She has also begun the process of rerecording her first six albums in order to own her body of work outright, with 1989 (Taylor’s Version) dropping in October 2023.
In April 2023, Us Weekly confirmed that Swift had split from Joe Alwyn, her boyfriend of six years, in the midst of her record-breaking Eras Tour. She went on to spark romance rumors with Travis Kelce that fall when she began spending time with the Kansas City Chiefs tight end and attending his games.
Jessica Alba — Domino
Alba went on to star in the action crime series L.A.’s Finest from 2019 to 2020. In 2023, she began cohosting the Roku Channel reality series Honest Renovations, which provides deserving families with life-changing home renovations.
In August 2023, Alba attended the Eras Tour with her husband, Cash Warren, and their three kids: daughters Honor and Haven, born in 2008 and 2011, respectively, and son Hayes, born in 2017.
“@Taylorswift with the fam – what a show! ????????#ErasTour,” Alba captioned Instagram snaps from the evening.
Lily Aldridge — Frostbyte
One of several Victoria’s Secret Angels in the “Bad Blood” video — Swift famously performed at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in both 2013 and 2014 — Aldridge hung up her Angel wings in 2018.
She went on to launch her eponymous fragrance line, Lily Aldridge Perfumes, and her YouTube Channel in 2019.
Aldridge attended a May 2023 performance of The Eras Tour in Nashville, Tennessee, with her and Swift’s mutual friend Gigi Hadid and 1975 frontman Matty Healy, whose brief whirlwind romance with Swift ended one month later.
Cindy Crawford — Headmistress
Crawford further cemented her legend status by participating in the 2023 Apple TV+ docuseries The Super Models along with Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista.
While it’s unclear whether Crawford has caught up with Swift recently or seen her perform, her daughter, Kaia Gerber, saw the Eras Tour in August 2023 with boyfriend Austin Butler.
“Incredibly cathartic magical perfect night,” Gerber captioned a clip from the Los Angeles show shared via her Instagram Story.
Cara Delevingne — Mother Chucker
Delevingne’s acting career has continued to flourish since her cameo as Mother Chucker in the “Bad Blood” video. She has since appeared in films including Suicide Squad (2016), Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) and Her Smell (2018).
In 2022, Delevingne played Gomez’s love interest in season 2 of Only Murders in the Building. She described the duo’s onscreen kiss as “fun” during an appearance on E!’s web series, While You Were Streaming.
“Would anyone in the world not like to kiss Selena?” she continued. “It was just hysterical. It’s just one of those things, especially when you know someone so well, it’s the comfortability and you kind of have fun with it.”
Delevigne has also stayed on good terms with Swift. She attended an Eras Tour performance in March 2023 and was later seen with the “Anti-Hero” singer at Margaret Qualley and Jack Antonoff’s wedding rehearsal dinner in Long Beach Island, New Jersey, that August.
Lena Dunham — Lucky Fiori
After Dunham’s HBO show, Girls, came to an end in 2017, she went on to appear in the television series American Horror Story: Cult (2017) and the Quentin Tarantino film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2020). She also continued her directing career with Sharp Stick (2022) and Catherine Called Birdy (2022).
Dunham split from Swift’s longtime musical collaborator Antonoff in 2017 after five years of dating. Some fans questioned whether Dunham’s friendship with Swift also cooled in the wake of the breakup, but the pals shut down the rumors in 2021 when the “Cruel Summer” singer served as a bridesmaid during Dunham’s wedding to musician Luis Felber.
Dunham celebrated her 37th birthday by attending a May 2023 Eras Tour performance in Philadelphia.
Selena Gomez — Arsyn
The Disney Channel alum has been through a lot since she and Swift came to blows in the “Bad Blood” video. In 2020, Gomez revealed she has bipolar disorder, a diagnosis she spoke candidly about in her 2022 documentary, Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me.
The “Lose You to Love Me” singer has also faced challenges with her physical health. In 2017, she received a kidney transplant from actress Francia Raisa due to complications from lupus.
Despite surviving her fair share of hardship, Gomez has continued to act and make music. She began starring in the Hulu series Only Murders in the Building alongside Steve Martin and Martin Short in 2021 and released her third studio album, Rare, in 2020.
Swift has been by Gomez’s sides throughout all the ups and downs. In March 2023, Gomez brought her little sister, Gracie, to see the Eras Tour.
“Thank you bestie for having me and my sissy transport into your mystical, euphoric and special world. Proud to know you! love you forever and always,” she wrote via Instagram alongside photos from the night.
Ellie Goulding — Destructa X
The “Lights” singer went on to release three more studio albums after she played Destructa X in the iconic video: Delirium (2015), Brightest Blue (2020) and Higher Than Heaven (2023). Goulding wed Caspar Jopling in 2019 and the pair welcomed son Arthur in 2021.
It’s unclear whether Goulding and Swift are still friends as the duo haven’t publicly interacted in years. Some fans have theorized that Swift’s friend and collaborator Ed Sheeran is the reason the two women seemingly haven’t remained close.
In February 2023, Goulding shut down longtime rumors that she cheated on Sheeran with Niall Horan — and that Sheeran’s 2014 song “Don’t” is inspired by her. During an interview with the Daily Mail, Goulding emphasized that she never dated Sheeran and said the speculation about their dynamic caused her “a lot of trauma.”
She continued: “I envy the fact that my friends just spent their 20s having flings and one-night stands and what every 20-something goes through in private. But every single thing I did was written about. I was made to feel like a terrible person and I really struggled with that because I know I’m not.”
Gigi Hadid – Slay-Z
Hadid has continued to thrive as a model and began cohosting the Netflix reality competition show Next In Fashion alongside Tan France in 2023. She welcomed daughter Khai in 2020 with then-boyfriend Zayn Malik. The pair called it quits the following year.
Hadid has stayed close pals with Swift. “Taylor Swift is an exceptional cook and I love her,” the model told InStyle in April 2023, noting that she’s particularly fond of the singer’s bolognese sauce and chili.
She continued: “It’s such a treat to get cooked for. And when you have friends that really also care about those special moments and the more intimate spaces and what can really come from putting an effort into making the time for that, I think that that’s when you start to find the friends that you really connect with, because you’re both working towards manifesting those really special moments.”
Swift and Hadid further displayed their tight bond when they were seen enjoying a night out in New York City in June 2023.
Mariska Hargitay — Justice
Hargitay is still going strong portraying Olivia Benson on Law and Order: SVU. She praised Swift’s Eras Tour performance after attending a Nashville stop in May 2023.
“Thank you magnificent and miraculous @taylorswift for your magic. It’s such a gift to be in your stunning, sparkly, powerful and délicate wonderland,” Hargitay captioned an Instagram clip from the concert. “How do you make a stadium filled with with 70,000 people feel like your cozy living room♥️ You are pure magic! Thank you for exquisite talent, your courage and all your wisdom. Your STAMINA!!and your #SHIMMER.”
Martha Hunt — HomeSlice
Hunt became a Victoria’s Secret Angel the same year the “Bad Blood” video dropped, and she remains one today. She welcomed daughter Emery with fiancé Jason McDonald in November 2021.
Hunt and Swift haven’t been seen together in years, so it’s unclear whether they’re still pals.
Karlie Kloss — Knockout
Kloss was once Swift’s closest friend of the bunch. They even appeared on the cover of Vogue together in 2015.
“People had been telling us for years we needed to meet. I remember makeup artists and hair people going, ‘Doesn’t she remind you of Karlie? God, she and Karlie would be best friends. They’re the same,’” Swift told the outlet at the time.
Speculation that the besties’ friendship was on the rocks began in 2016 when Kloss told Sunday Times Style magazine that Kim Kardashian had been “lovely” to her in the past. The comment came mere weeks after Swift’s infamous feud with Kardashian and her then-husband Kanye West began.
Kloss went on to deny rumors that she and Swift had bad blood of their own for years. However, it seemed undeniable that the once-inseparable pair had had a falling out when Swift didn’t attend Kloss and Joshua Kushner’s second wedding celebration in 2019. (Kloss has since welcomed sons Elijah and Levi, born in 2021 and 2023, respectively, with Kushner.)
While neither Kloss nor Swift has ever publicly confirmed their friendship breakup, some fans think that Swift addressed the drama in her song “It’s Time to Go,” a bonus track from “Evermore” released in January 2021.
“When the words of a sister come back in whispers / That prove she was not in fact what she seemed / Not a twin from your dreams / She’s a crook who was caught,” Swift sings on the track.
Given the pair’s complicated history — and conspiracy theories that they were once romantically involved — fans were shocked when Kloss attended an August 2023 Eras Tour show in Los Angeles.
Kendrick Lamar — Welvin Da Great
The rapper was featured on the remix version of “Bad Blood” and the subsequent music video. He has since released two more studio albums: Damn (2017) and Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (2022).
Prior to their collaboration, Swift was vocal about her admiration for Lamar, telling Rolling Stone in 2014 that Lamar’s song “Backseat Freestyle” was “pretty much all I listened to” during the first summer she moved to New York City.
Lamar, for his part, later reflected on how “the vibe was right” when he worked with Swift on “Bad Blood.” During a 2017 appearance on Howard Stern’s Sirius XM show, Lamar said of going into the studio with Swift: “It didn’t take too many takes. We locked in on the chemistry.”
Ellen Pompeo — Luna
Season 19 of Grey’s Anatomy, which ended in May 2023, marked Pompeo’s last as a full-time cast member. (She will continue to serve as an executive producer on the show and provide her signature voiceovers).
Pompeo attended an Eras Tour show in Las Vegas, Nevada, in March 2023. “That’s a wrap @Taylorswift,” she captioned a photo of herself and her daughters, Stella and Sienna, after the show.
Serayah – Dilemma
The Empire alum went on to act in TV films including Hip Hop Family Christmas (2021) and The Sound of Christmas (2022). She also starred in the 2022 BET original series Kingdom Business.
While Serayah (real name Serayah McNeill) hasn’t been seen with Swift in recent years, she did look back fondly on a memory with the singer during a 2022 interview with Rolling Stone.
“My first time [trying tequila] was taking shots with Taylor Swift actually,” she told the outlet with a laugh.
Hailee Steinfeld — The Trinity
Steinfeld went on to star in films including the Pitch Perfect film series (2015-2017), Edge of Seventeen (2017) and Bumblebee (2018). She also portrayed Emily Dickinson in the AppleTV+ series Dickinson (2019-2021) and Kate Bishop in the Disney+ miniseries Hawkeye (2021).
As a musician, Steinfeld released two EPs: Haiz in 2015 and Half Written Story in 2020. The actress reflected on her “Bad Blood” video experience during a September 2023 interview with People.
“I mean, you get a call from Ms. Swift and you run to the phone,” she said, calling it an “honor” to be included. “I’m literally chasing the dates of her Eras Tour trying to figure out when I can make it.”
Hayley Williams — The Crimson Curse
Williams continued to make music with her band, Paramore, releasing the albums After Laughter and This Is Why in 2017 and 2023, respectively. She was featured on the vault track “Castles Crumbing” on Swift’s rerecorded album Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), which was released in July 2023.
“Taylor was the first industry friend I ever made and hung out with outside of work things. When Speak Now dropped, I bought my friend’s record (as you do!) and listened to the whole thing in my first car, sitting still in the driveway. It’s my favorite Taylor Swift album for so many reasons,” Williams wrote via Instagram in June 2023 ahead of the release.
Zendaya — Cut-Throat
Zendaya’s fame continued to skyrocket after her appearance in the “Bad Blood” video. She first portrayed Mary Jane Watson in the 2017 film Spider-Man: Homecoming and went on to star in its sequels alongside boyfriend Tom Holland, whom she began dating in 2021.
Zendaya’s other film roles include The Greatest Showman (2017), Malcolm & Marie (2021) and Dune (2021). She has also starred in the HBO drama Euphoria since 2019, for which she won two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
It’s unclear whether Zendaya and Swift are still friends as they haven’t publicly spoken about each other in years.