Taylor Swift knows the power of her words, and she used them to make an important and much-needed statement after Lady Gaga posted a TikTok to shut down pregnancy rumors. The Sun had run photos of Gaga at her sister’s wedding over the weekend, headlining its piece, “Lady Gaga sparks pregnancy rumors after being spotted with bump at sister’s wedding with partner Michael Polansky.” Online comments flurried after the photos were published on social media.
Gaga made a very unusual move, posting pregnancy denials on both TikTok and Instagram.
On TikTok, Gaga wrote, “not pregnant—just down bad crying at the gym. Register to vote at www.headcount.org.” Her caption references the lyrics of Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department song “Down Bad.”
Swift left a comment on the video that has since gone viral. She wrote, “Can we all agree that it’s invasive and irresponsible to comment on a woman’s body. Gaga doesn’t owe anyone an explanation, and neither does any woman. 💋”
Gaga and Swift aren’t the only stars to address commentary around women’s bodies and how toxic it is. Hailey Bieber spoke to GQ in October about being the constant subject of pregnancy rumors. “Recently, everybody was like, ‘Oh, my God, she’s pregnant,’ and that’s happened to me multiple times before,” she said. “There is something that’s disheartening about, Damn, I can’t be bloated one time and not be pregnant? It would be a lie if I was like, Oh, yeah, I don’t give a shit. When there comes a day that that is true, you—you, as in the internet, will be the last to know.”
Jennifer Aniston also touched on how difficult it was for her in a November 2022 Allure interview, sharing that she had been struggling privately with infertility in her late 30s and 40s. “All the years and years and years of speculation… It was really hard,” she said. “I was going through IVF, drinking Chinese teas, you name it. I was throwing everything at it. I would’ve given anything if someone had said to me, ‘Freeze your eggs. Do yourself a favor.’ You just don’t think it. So here I am today. The ship has sailed.”
“I have zero regrets,” she added. “I actually feel a little relief now because there is no more, ‘Can I? Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.’ I don’t have to think about that anymore.”