Taylor Swift and two-thirds of Haim or John Early and Kate Berlant: two different types of #friendshipgoals. Plus the memoir inspiring women to lock down their marital assets.
MASTERMINDING
The Knicks Won in Spite of or Because of Taylor Swift
Zach Schiffman rounds up the new set of hidden messages Swifties need to crack.
In light of last night’s events, we forced Zach to write an emergency installment of “Masterminding,” his periodic column detailing the exploits of the entity that is Taylor Swift.
If Taylor Swift is trying to seem like a chill girl with completely normal interests, this week was her best attempt in recent memory. She appeared courtside at her alleged wedding venue on Wednesday night sitting with two of the three Haim sisters plus her cat’s namesake, Mariska Hargitay, in matching custom shirts designed by Alana Haim. Taylor’s shirt (and Mariska’s) read “Stevie Knicks,” honoring both the team and her idol. As she does at every awards show, Taylor appeared drunk, seemingly off of vodka sodas. Swift was loosened up enough to hug Kylie Jenner. She even completed the lyrics of her own song “Out of the Woods” with a fan. For fans of unhinged Tayfoil hat speculation, I present the letter A dangling from her jeans last night. According to T-Anon fans online, she has worn the letter A in every appearance since the iHeartRadio Music Awards in March. A is likely an Easter egg for her middle name, Alison. My Eras tinfoil hat is fully on right now, but there have long been suspicions that her 13th album could be titled Alison and will mark her full return to country (something Crazy Days and Nights alluded to this week). It was nice to see her at the game, her gargantuan fiancé, proving she knows ball and Aristotle. He wasn’t there to crush a drink for the cameras, and she got to be bejeweled.
Taylor also attended the premiere of Toy Story 5, dressed in a ripped-up curtain, without her fiancé. Maybe this week was her bachelorette party? Following the screening, she changed into a yellow dress covered in daisy appliqués (Daisies are extremely significant for Gaylors; you just have to trust me, and we will get into it another time) and sang a piano rendition of her song “I Knew It, I Knew You.” Travis was replaced by Randy Newman, and the pair performed a duet of his Academy Award–winning song “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” where neither of them sang on key in a beautiful way. Newman is an extremely good match for Taylor’s vocals — both have weird voices and are brilliant writers. Seeing them perform together does make you wonder, Why doesn’t she co-write the song with Newman? Even if “I Knew It, I Knew You” was identical to what we have now, the goodwill of co-writing with the legendary composer would certainly boost her Oscar chances. She and Jack Antonoff are going to have to work a little harder to get that statuette. The good news is that Taylor has already started. She gave a rare sit-down interview to 20/20, where she teared up about the new Pixar movie. As has been well documented, Taylor is a bad actress, so I do believe she was genuinely crying over the animated movie.
You’ll surely hear from me soon enough, as the American royal wedding nears. Whether or not it is actually going to be at Madison Square Garden is anyone’s guess. Tonight she’ll be at the spiritual sibling of MSG, the Marriott Marquis theater, which is hosting the Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Maybe the shirt last night was an Easter egg, and Stevie Knicks will introduce her?
MONEY
Women Are Trying to Avoid the Fate of Belle Burden
We want prenup!
In Strangers, Belle Burden told a terrifying story of being very rich yet still vulnerable to life upheaval thanks to her dickhead husband’s insistence on an unjust prenuptial agreement. Bindu Bansinath sought out the stories of regular-rich and nonrich women who read the book and got inspired to shield themselves, via prenup or postnup.
One day a few weeks after the book came out, Manhattan divorce lawyer Sonya Witt was advising a woman who was about to marry a tech entrepreneur with an income in the seven figures. The woman had a good job in social media but worried her income would never be commensurate with her fiancé’s, especially if they had children and she had to take time off work to take care of them; she wanted things to be fair. “Have you read Strangers?” the woman asked Witt. “My goal with this prenup is to avoid what happened to Belle Burden.” In the original draft of the prenup, stocks were classified as separate property; after Strangers, the woman asked her fiancé to agree to a change ensuring that any deferred compensation earned during their marriage, like bonuses, would be equally divided if they divorced. “That one seemingly minor tweak could be worth millions for her,” says Witt, who’s seen something of a Strangers boom in her practice, where clients bring up the book on a weekly basis and seek out amended prenups or postnups.
In general, it’s always better to be prepared!
MOVIES
May Friendship Like John Early and Kate Berlant’s Find You
The Maddie’s Secret co-stars have a very special bond.
Lucky Rachel Handler got to spend time with comedic genius actors Kate Berlant and John Early, chilling in an East Village park and talking about TV, theater, movies, and the history of their 14-year friendship.
Kate Berlant: I remember getting on the train and going home. I remember John texting me, “I’ll kill myself if I don’t see you.” Then I’m not kidding, I think we hung out either the next day or the day after that.
John Early: When have you ever said, “Let’s hang out,” and you mean immediately? You’re actually hoping the other person forgets it.
K.B.: It really was the falling-in-love thing of like, we were just inseparable. There wasn’t dating, there wasn’t any coitus. It was very lesbian. John quite literally would sleep over at my apartment. I had a roommate of course, and John would be sleeping in bed with me for many nights of the week.
What size bed?
K.B.: Full.
J.E.: It was not even a queen.
Getting to be the exact right level of famous with your best friend is the actual showbiz dream.
Click Your Way Out
Scenes from last night’s orgiastic Knicks-win celebrations all over NYC.
You can thank Christine Baranski for that, btw.
There were other celebrities in attendance as well.
Here are the Broadway shows that P!nk should star in.
Get to know your 2026 World Cup WAGs.
Can Portland’s Voodoo Doughnut make it here?
Alex Chee read this story last night and everyone cried.
Have you picked out your outfit for Taylor Swift’s wedding yet? Clock’s ticking …
What a triggering thought
No, they won because of the Wu Tang Clan