Everything you need to know about Taylor Swift's cats

Taylor Swift has dominated pop culture this year, ending it all on a high after being named Time's Person of the Year.

A key part of Swift's life outside of music is her cats, and if you're not a diehard Swiftie, you might not know a lot about them.

Swift has three cats: Meredith Grey, Olivia Benson, and Benjamin Button. And she's never been shy about sharing her love for them.

At the announcement today (Dec. 6) of her being announced Person of the Year, her first tweet on the matter read:

"Time Magazine: We'd like to name you Person of the Yea-

Me: Can I bring my cat."

Clearly, Taylor has her priorities straight.

She has spoken on multiple occasions about why she loves cats so much, even staring in the movie Cats because of her love for them.

Speaking to Time in 2019, she said: "I have cats. I'm obsessed with them. I love my cats so much that when a role came up in a movie called Cats, I just thought, like, I gotta do this."

Her love of cats has even brought some goodness into the world. Ahead of her Houston stop on her Eras Tour, a local animal shelter announced it was reducing its cat adoption fees.

Keep reading to find out more about Swift's three cats.

Meredith Grey

Swift's first cat Meredith, named after Meredith Grey of Grey's Anatomy, she got in 2011.

"She is awesome. She's like, the most adorable cat in the world," Swift said, not long after bringing the Scottish Fold home.

Meredith herself is a bit of a celebrity. Not only making numerous appearances on Swift's Instagram, but also featuring in Deadpool 2, where Ryan Reynolds' character wears a t-shirt of Meredith and Olivia Benson sitting side-by-side with the words "Olivia & Meredith Best Friends Purrrrr-Ever." She also featured in Swift's music video "ME!" alongside Brendon Urie.

In 2021, fans became concerned after noticing that Meredith hadn't featured on Swift's socials much. So the pop star stepped in to reassure everyone

"We've been hearing some rumours on the internet recently," Swift said in a video online, while holding her cat Benjamin Button. "I mean, they're not about Benj, they're about your sister.

"The truth is, Meredith just hates having her picture taken," she explained.

Olivia Benson

Swift brought her second cat, Olivia Benson, home in 2014, another Scottish Fold. This time named after Mariska Hargitay's character on Law & Order: SVU.

In 2015, Olivia Benson even got to meet Olivia Benson!

As well as appearing in Deadpool 2 and the "ME!" music video, Olivia also featured in an outtake from an AT&T ad with Swift. In the video, Swift crawls along the floor and asks Olivia, "Are you a saber-toothed tiger cub? Are you my baby wolverine? Are you the Princess of Meow Town? Are you just a melting snowman? Are you just a sloth? 'Cause you're just a little unicorn kitty cat!"

On Nov. 30, Hargitay shared her new cat with her followers on Instagram, and in a delightful turn of events named the cat Karma, after Swift's song.

Swift seemed honoured, commenting: "Are you serious?!!!! Nothing has ever come more full circle. LOVE THIS SO MUCH!!"

Benjamin Button

Swift got her third cat, Benjamin Button, in 2019, and stuck with the theme of naming her cats after fictional characters.

Unlike Olivia and Meredith, Benjamin is a Ragdoll, and Swift met him whilst on set of the music video for "ME!" Whilst starring alongside Swift's other two cats, he wasn't adopted by Swift until afterward.

"He was just a cute kitten who didn't have a home," Swift said during an Instagram Live. Noting that Benjamin was part of a program that "tries to get cute kittens adopted by putting them in commercials and stuff."

When the handler asked Swift if she wanted to hold Benjamin before their scene, she said she knew then he would be coming home with her. "She handed me this tiny cat and he just starts purring and … he looks at me like, 'You're my mom, and we're going to live together.' I fell in love," Swift said. "I looked at Brendon and he's like, 'You're going to get the cat aren't you?'"

A few days later, Swift introduced him to the world on Instagram with a cute photo of the two of them, writing, "And then there were three … "

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