The tale of two Taylors! From Hollywood showmances to rebelling against studios – the incredible parallels between Taylor Swift and Elizabeth Taylor as singer pays tribute to the late actress on her new album

Elizabeth Taylor will forever be remembered for her decades-long acting career, dazzling Hollywood life, and no fewer than eight marriages to seven different men.

And following in her footsteps as one of pop culture’s most memorable women, Taylor Swift revealed she would be paying homage to Hollywood’s darling by naming a song after her as part of her highly-anticipated new album, The Life Of A Showgirl. 

Last week, the Pennsylvania-born songstress delighted fans in unveiling details of the album while on the New Heights podcast hosted by her boyfriend, Travis Kelce – including dedicating the second track on the album to the late actress, with whom she shares half her name.

The late actress, known for her roles in Cleopatra, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof and Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf – where she won her first Oscar – Elizabeth Taylor is known having risen through the ranks to become an industry legend even before her 18th birthday.

In many ways her successor, Taylor Swift also shot to fame while she was just a teenager, going on to secure international fame and making an everlasting mark in pop culture’s history pages.

The two may be a generation apart, but both have captivated the world with their talent, beauty, fascinating romances, and rebellious streaks that have set to re-define the confines of their respective industries.

While little is known about Swift’s upcoming album – other than a list of tracks and evocative aesthetic that many have called her most daring yet – it is not the first time the Shake It Off hitmaker has referenced Elizabeth.

The 35-year-old singer gave a nod to Elizabeth’s mid-century movie star aesthetic in the music video for Wildest Dreams, and even directly referenced her romance with Richard Burton in her song, ‘Ready For It?’, with the lyric, ‘Burton to my Taylor.’

Not only that, but Swift named dropped her in an Instagram video in 2023, around the time of her 34th birthday when her friend, Kayleigh Teller gifted her an opal ring inspired which was inspired by The Life of a Showgirl film staring Elizabeth. 

In the clip, Swift can be heard saying ‘this is a present for Elizabeth Taylor, not for me,’ to which her friend, the former wife of actor Miles Teller, called her ‘my Elizabeth Taylor’. 

After Swift revealed the name of the track last week, her estate followed up by posting a new line of merch, featuring an orange sweater with her name embossed on the chest, and shared a black and white photos of Elizabeth Taylor wearing a showgirl outfit.

Christopher Wilding, 72, the youngest son of Elizabeth has even spoken of the connection between the two celebrity starlets after Swift revealed to fans that she would be paying tribute to his late mother in her second track.

He even said that he believes Swift would have got on with his mother, who died in 2011, aged 79, from congestive heart failure.    

It’s not the first time Elizabeth Taylor’s family have acknowledged the connection between the two Taylors.

When Swift earned back the rights to her Masters earlier this year, those running Elizabeth’s account posted a side-by-side comparison of a video of her leaving MGM in 1960, the actress famously having rebelled against the studio. 

‘From one Taylor to another, we see you queen,’ was written beneath the post. 

The Hollywood legend, born in Hampstead Heath and raised through the ranks of English high society, is now considered one of the prolific figures in Hollywood. 

Elizabeth famously rebelled against studio control in Hollywood, particularly at MGM, with whom she had a contract until 1960.

As young starlet, Elizabeth was signed to the studio MGM when was just 10 years old, the first contract being from 1942. She undertook her first role in National Velvet aged 12 in 1944 before going on to complete a total of 19 films for the studio.

It took a total of 18 stifling years for the actress to finally free herself from the confines of MGM.

Growing up while under the thumb of the movie studio, Elizabeth was subjected to gruelling working hours with little time for schooling, and was regularly typecast as merely a ‘pretty face’ in unchallenging roles, a routine that she quickly grew sick of.

She proved she wasn’t willing to put up with a contract that limited her potential and exploited her beauty when she furiously swore of MGM head Louis B Mayer, telling him to ‘go to hell’.

And when a furious Mayer swore at her mother, Elizabeth told him: ‘You and your studio can go straight to hell.’ 

She was immediately ordered to apologise by Mayer’s deputy but refused, retaining her contract in spite of the spat because because already, at the age of 15, she had the power. 

Even as a teenager, she said it was no coincidence it was called the ‘MGM stable … like we’re animals not people’.

She finally completed her contract with the studio in 1960, starring in her last movie, Butterflied 8 as a high-class call girl, a film which she hated but which earned her first Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.

When she was then approached by Fox Studios for the role of Cleopatra, she used her power to negotiate a record salary that would redefine the way actors were paid for generations. 

The deal made her first actor to be paid a million dollars – and 10 per cent of the gross earnings – and signalled her new found freedom from the studio that ‘exploited’ her.

Reflecting on her legacy, Elizabeth’s son, Michael Wilding, Jr, said: ‘She understood the power and value of her beauty and used it for all it was worth.’

And she isn’t the last of the Taylors to have rebelled against her industry to reclaim her freedom from the shackles of corporate control. 

In 2019, a dispute between Swift and her former label, Big Machine Records (BMLG) emerged, it’s founder Scott Borchetta, and the new owner, Scooter Braun, over the masters of the singers first six albums.

Borchetta controversially acquired the rights to Swift’s material for $300million after buying her old record label, Big Machine Media, in 2019 before selling them on to Shamrock Capital for profit.

Swift took to Tumblr to say she was ‘sad and grossed out’ by the deal which meant her nemesis now owned the masters to her first six albums as well as the record label.

The Love Story singer, who branded Borchetta a ‘bully’ for tactics, was unaware of his plan and also claimed when she previously approached Big Machine label head Scott Borchetta about buying her masters beforehand, he allegedly would only sell her them one at a time, starting from her earliest, least-profitable recordings. 

In exchange for the option to buy the masters back, Swift claimed she would have to record a new album for the label in exchange for each old recording she bought, shackling her to Big Machine for years to come just when she was eager to leave the label. 

Shamrock acquired the master recordings to Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989 and Reputation – which Swift has now regained ownership of, having previously led a campaign to re-record her first six albums, four of which she’s successfully completed. 

Her fans reacted with outrage and disgust, responding to Swift’s claims that her youth, in the form of the songs she had written as a teenager on her bedroom floor, had been somehow taken from her. 

The pop star claimed that ‘for years’ she had fought for ownership of her work but instead had it ‘stripped’ from her by Braun, who she accused of ‘manipulative bullying’ and trying to ‘dismantle’ her legacy. 

Then, in May earlier this year, the singer announced that she had bought back her master recordings, six years after they were taken from her. 

In a social media post, she revealed that she had finally struck a settlement with private equity firm Shamrock Capital, who purchased the rights to the records from music mogul Scooter Braun in November 2020.

In a hand-written letter posted on her website, Swift, who is worth over $1billion, claimed the money she made from her lucrative Eras tour last year has helped bankroll the purchase of her old material and ‘her entire life’s work’. 

Both Taylors have had their talent honoured with a plethora of awards.

Elizabeth won two Academy Awards in her lifetime – as well as receiving the honorary Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award – just as Swift has several Grammys to her name. 

But despite their wide-reach and bountiful accolades, little has captured the attention of Swift’s fans like her romantic endeavours – much in the same way her predecessor, Elizabeth, has become better known for her marriages than her acting. 

A woman who wore her heart on her sleeve, Elizabeth had been married eight times to seven different men by the time she died.

And though Swift is yet to marry herself, she is no stranger to rigorous fan speculation when it comes to her love life.

Elizabeth, ever-drawn to romance, was famously married more than half a dozen times, beginning first with her marriage to Nicky Hilton – the future great uncle of Paris Hilton – aged 18.

But no sooner had it started, things turned sour. Hilton, who had previously earned a reputation as a raucous and unpredictable drunk, had seemingly kicked his alcohol habit prior to the two becoming married, but began to show his true colours again once their honeymoon came to a close. 

It was then that drunk, he beat Elizabeth to the point of miscarriage and aged just 19, she filed for divorce in 1951, citing ‘extreme cruelty’.

Husband number two was actor and fellow Brit, Michael Wilding, who she met on the set of the 1952 film, Ivanhoe.

More than 20 years her senior, Elizabeth often referred to Wilding as a ‘great stabiliser’ who represented ‘tranquility, security and maturity’ – qualities which she was looking for in her own life.

The pair married at Caxton Hall in London and had a healthy and happy marriage for the five years they were together. But ever an adventurist, Elizabeth longed for excitement and soon divorced mild-mannered Wilding. 

Her third marriage was to Hollywood tycoon, Mike Todd, whom she widely referred to as the ‘love of her life.’ 

The day after Elizabeth broke up with Wilding, Todd demanded to see her in an office at MGM and gave her a speech saying he loved her and there was ‘no question’ they should be together.

However, their romance would sadly not stand the test of time, as just one year after they first wed, Todd tragically died in a plane crash, leaving behind a distraught Elizabeth and their 8-month-old daughter, Liza. 

Her marriage to Eddie Fisher was widely considered once of the biggest romantic scandals Hollywood had seen. The singer had been Mike Todd’s former best-man at their wedding and the husband of her close friend, Debbie Reynolds, with whom he fathered the actress, Carrie Fisher. 

The pair were married for five years before she ended up leaving Fisher for her fourth husband.

Elizabeth famously sent shockwaves through the showbiz world when she fell for Richard Burton while still married to fourth husband Eddie Fisher – with the lovebirds marrying just 10 days after she divorced Fisher. 

The two were married for ten between from 1964 to 1974, later rekindling their romance in 1975 before calling it quits for good just one year later. 

Her penultimate nuptial was to John Warner, who she met on a blind-date while attending to Queen Elizabeth II’s dinner at the British Embassy in Washington D.C.

But things were short lived. After Warner entered politics and encouraged Elizabeth to exchange Hollywood glitz for knee-length skirts and embrace a more traditionalist attitude to impress right-wing American voters, the couple realised their lifestyles weren’t set to be compatible. 

When Elizabeth walked down the aisle for the final time, it was to meet Larry Fortensky, a construction worker 20 years her junior who she had met at the Betty Ford rehab centre. 

However, the spotlight proved too intense for the couple and they split after five years. 

The fascination with Elizabeth’s love life lasted the span of her life, a reality that will no doubt prove true too for Swift, who has stoked similar obsessive-levels of interest in her romantic endeavours through her career. 

Since her debut album launched in 2006, Swift has had at least a dozen high profile relationships, attracting fascination from fans who have desperately sought clues about her love-life based on lyrics from her 19 albums.

Well aware of the attention her love life has brought, Swift has not held back from commenting on the media’s portrayal of such in her music. 

Both songs, ‘Shake It Off’ and ‘But Daddy I Love Him, are thought to be comment on public image and the world’s attachment to her love life.

The Love Story singer, who is currently dating Travis Kelce, has had at least a dozen relationships, all of which have been front page splashes since the release of her first album as a teenager.

Speculation of the singer’s romance with the NFL player began in July 2023 when he revealed on his and his brother’s podcast that he had tried to slip the singer his phone number on a friendship bracelet at her Eras gig.

The pair have been together ever since, with seemingly going well. 

A source recently told US Weekly that both are ‘genuinely ready’ for marriage and children.

Before that though, one of her first romances was with Brandon Borello while in high school.

Said to have inspired some of her hits, including Our Song and Fifteen, he is one of the few who has managed to stay under the radar.

Drew Hardwick was another of her high school loves and he gets a mention in 2007 hit Teardrops on my Guitar.

Swift’s first high profile relationship was with Jonas Brother Joe Jonas, who she dated for four months in 2008 before things ended over the phone. 

She told Ellen Degeneres in November of the same year: ‘When I find that person who 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.’

Elsewhere, Swift also dated fellow Taylor, Twilight star Taylor Lautner, who is also thought to be the inspiration behind the song ‘Back to December’.

John Mayer, who Swift dated between 2009 and 2010, was also the inspiration behind ‘Dear John’, another on her iconic setlist. 

Next, Swift’s 2012 album, Red, is thought to be inspired by Jake Gyllenhaal. The 2021 All Too Well: The Short Film supposedly telling the story of Jake and Swift’s age gap relationship – Jake was 29 and Swift was 20 when they were together.

Later, she dated Connor Kennedy, from the famous US Kennedy family, in 2012 before embarking on her drama-filled romance with One Direction star, Harry Styles, which lasted just a few short months.

Swift also had brief entanglements with Calvin Harris and Tom Hiddleston, both romances lasting a few months between the years of 2015 and 2016.

One of her most significant relationships was with British actor, Joe Alwyn, whom she was with for six years between May 2017 to April 2023.

Love songs from her last four albums, Reputation, Lover, Folklore and Evermore, are thought to have been inspired by Joe.

But sadly the romance had ‘run its course’ by the time the pair had reached the six year mark, leading them to call it quits. 

Shortly afterwards, Swift was linked to outspoken 1975 front man, Matty Healy after the pair were spotted on a number of dates in New York City, with Healy also seen in the crowd at one of of Swift’s Eras tour gigs.

But a few weeks of dating proved they weren’t compatible and too busy to make things work in the long run.