It looks like Taylor Swift is team Sophie Turner amid the latter’s divorce from Joe Jonas. And we love this show of sisterhood for them.
Taylor and Sophie were spotted having dinner together in New York City on September 19, just two weeks after Sophie and Joe announced they were “amicably” separating.
(However, the divorce is quickly turning not so amicable with new reports emerging that Sophie is now suing Joe for “wrongful detention” of their children in New York, whereas the agreed plan was for the children to return to their ‘permanent home’ in England.)
Coming back to the Taylor Swift-Sophie Turner dinner date – fans have spiralled since the photos of Taylor and Sophie leaving the restaurant arm in arm surfaced online.
Of course, we understand why; the lore behind Taylor’s relationship to both Sophie and Joe runs deep and this development is HUGE for Swifties (Taylor fans) and Jonatics (Jonas Brothers fans) alike.
In case you’re not familiar with Taylor, Sophie and Joe’s history, let’s backtrack a little…
Way back in 2008, Taylor and Joe dated for a few months. He then, as Taylor detailed during an appearance on Ellen Degeneres’ show, broke up with her over an extremely short phone call.
“When I find that person that is right for me, he’ll be wonderful and when I look at that person, I’m not even gonna be able to remember the boy who broke up with me over the phone in 25 seconds when I was 18,” Taylor said.
Joe clapped back shortly after Taylor’s appearance on Ellen and wrote on MySpace, “For those who have expressed concern over the ‘27 second’ phone call, I called to discuss feelings with the other person.
“Those feelings were obviously not well received. I did not end the conversation. Someone else did. Phone calls can only last as long as the person on the other end of the line is willing to talk.”
The two then continued to seemingly make little digs and release songs about each other for the next few years.
However, in 2011, it looked like Taylor and Joe were finally back on good terms with one another when Joe attended Taylor’s San Jose Speak Now concert.
This was confirmed by Joe in 2015; when asked about Taylor by Hollywood Live, he said, “She’s great. Yeah, we’re friends … In this industry, you meet a lot of people and you stay in touch. Obviously, it’s tough to be friends with people that are always constantly travelling, but yeah, we’re cool.”
Shortly after Joe made these comments, he and Taylor went on a double date with their respective partners. While in London, Joe, Gigi Hadid (who he was dating at the time), Taylor and Calvin Harris (who she was dating at the time) went on a boat ride (Karlie Kloss was also there, but as a fifth wheel).
Further cementing their status as friends, Joe then attended Taylor’s 4th of July party in 2015.
Between 2016 and 2019, Joe and Taylor didn’t spend too much time together but that’s likely because they were both busy. During this time period, Joe met and eventually wed Sophie and Taylor was travelling the world thanks to her Reputation Stadium Tour.
But in 2019, again on Ellen Denegeres’ show, Taylor said she regretted previous comments she’d made about Joe when Ellen asked her what the most rebellious thing she ever did as a teen was.
“Probably when I like, put Joe Jonas on blast on your show,” Taylor said.
“That was too much. Yeah, that was too much. I was 18. We laugh about it now, but that was mouthy … just teenage stuff there.”
Also in 2019, it was revealed that not only was Taylor friends with Joe, but she was also friends with Sophie. During an interview with Extra, Sophie was asked about Taylor and she said, “She’s a really sweet girl. We’ve met a couple of times before… We’re friends.”
Since then the trio have regularly interacted or publicly referenced one another.
For example, Taylor’s album Folklore, released in July 2020, features the song Invisible String and many believe a line in the song is about Joe, and his and Sophie’s first child Willa, who was born in July 2020.
“Cold was the steel of my axe to grind, for the boys who broke my heart. Now I send their babies’ presents,” the lyrics read.
In 2021, when Taylor released Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Sophie shared the song Mr Perfectly Fine (one of the vault tracks that was obviously written about Joe shortly after he and Taylor broke up) on social media and joked, “It’s not NOT a bop.”
Also in 2021, when Taylor performed on Saturday Night Live, a handful of Taylor’s friends went to support her, including Joe and Sophie.
Finally in 2022, when Joe performed in Las Vegas with his brothers, when he sang the song Much Better – which fans have long believed to be about Taylor – he changed the lyrics to reflect that he and Taylor were now friends.
The original lyrics in the song that are clearly a reference to Taylor are, “I got a rep for breaking hearts, now I’m done with superstars and all the tears on her guitar.”
But Joe changed them to, “Now I’m cool with superstars.”
Flashforward to 2023, on September 6, Joe and Sophie announced they were getting divorced.
“After four wonderful years of marriage we have mutually decided to amicably end our marriage,” they said in a joint statement.
Despite the use of “mutually” and “amicably”, the general public went into overdrive, theorising why the couple were splitting.
Many tabloids painted Sophie in an unflattering light, ridiculously claiming that Joe decided to leave Sophie because she made him look after their children while she worked in the UK, because she’s a ‘party girl’, and because Joe heard/saw her do something bad in ‘ring camera’ footage…
Joe seemingly addressed these allegations during a Jonas Brothers show in Los Angeles on September 9; he said to the crowd, “I just want to say, if you don’t hear it from these lips, don’t believe it. Okay?”
But Sophie has been radio silent since posting her and Joe’s joint statement on Instagram. In fact, she’s stayed out of the public eye completely.
Until now. Being seen with Taylor on September 19 spoke volumes to fans. Many posted the pictures of Taylor and Sophie together on Instagram, using the lyrics, “Picture me thick as thieves with your ex wife,” from Taylor’s song Vigilante S**t, as the caption.
Some took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to voice their thoughts.
“Taylor and Sophie out together?!? That’s absolutely iconic. Girls rule, boys drool,” one user wrote while another said, “Sophie Turner got Taylor Swift in the divorce and I think that’s beautiful.”
It is, because divorce isn’t easy for anyone, and even more so when one is in the public eye. And a friendly show of support can go a long way.
Of course, while it looks like Taylor has taken Sophie’s side, she may remain friends with Joe too.
Who knows? Maybe next week Taylor will be spotted having dinner with Joe… We’ll just have to wait and see.
