All About Taylor Swift's Longtime Best Friend, Abigail Anderson

Ilana Frost, Caroline Blair, Nicole PomaricoThu, July 2, 2026 at 1:00 PM UTC

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Abigail Anderson and Taylor Swift attend The 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards at the STAPLES Center on February 8, 2015 in Los Angeles, California.Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage -

Taylor Swift and Abigail Anderson met in high school and have been best friends ever since

Swift sang about Anderson in "Fifteen" and mentioned her in "Ruin the Friendship"

The two have continued to support each other well into adulthood

Taylor Swift and Abigail Anderson have stood by each other for more than 20 years.

The "Opalite" singer and Anderson have been friends ever since they were teenagers at Hendersonville High School in Tennessee. As Swift has risen to fame, she and Anderson have remained close friends.

Early on in Swift's career, she wrote the song "Fifteen" about her friendship with Anderson and her first high school love. Anderson also appeared in Swift's Miss Americana documentary and supported her at the Eras Tour in Nashville.

They have continued to support each other in recent years. In July 2025, Anderson and her husband were spotted on a double date with Swift and Travis Kelce in Nashville.

Now, Swift is expected to marry Kelce at Madison Square Garden in New York City ahead of the July Fourth holiday weekend.

So, who is Abigail Anderson? From inspiring “Fifteen” to appearing in several music videos, here’s everything to know about one of Taylor Swift’s best friends.

She and Swift met in high school

Taylor Swift and Abigail Anderson in December 2016.Credit: Abigail Anderson Berard Instagram

In a 2009 interview on TheOprah Winfrey Show, Swift shared that she and Anderson met on the first day of their freshman year at Hendersonville High School in Tennessee.

The duo sat next to each other in English class and have been inseparable ever since.

She is mentioned in several of Swift’s songs

Taylor Swift and Abigail Anderson in April 2015.Credit: Abigail Anderson Berard Instagram

Swift references Anderson in her song “Fifteen” from her 2008 album Fearless. In the second verse of the coming-of-age tune, Swift sings: “You sit in class next to a redhead named Abigail / And soon enough you're best friends / Laughing at the other girls / Who think they're so cool / We'll be out of here as soon as we can.”

Later in the song, the singer reflects on her best friend’s heartbreak: “And Abigail gave everything she had to a boy who changed his mind / We both cried.”

In May 2023, Anderson attended Swift’s Eras Tour in Nashville, and Swift dedicated an acoustic version of “Fifteen” to her “beautiful, redheaded high school best friend,” per Billboard. After the lyric, “We both cried," Swift added, “And that’s alright.” In one since-deleted TikTok video, Anderson was seen enthusiastically singing along with Swift from the VIP tent.

A few days before the show, Anderson posted a photo of her and Swift giggling. In the caption, she referenced the song’s chorus, writing, “Cause when you’re ... 33.”

Nearly 20 years after Swift first sang about Anderson in "Fifteen," she mentioned Anderson again in the 2025 song "Ruin the Friendship." In the song, which is from The Life of a Showgirl, Swift sings about a high school boy whom she had a crush on. However, Anderson calls her to tell her the tragic news that the boy died.

“When I left school I lost track of you / Abigail called me with the bad news / Goodbye … / And we’ll never know why / It was not an invitation / But I flew home anyway / With so much left to say / It was not convenient, no / But I whispered at the grave / ‘Should’ve kissed you anyway,' " Swift sings.

She was a competitive swimmer

At Hendersonville High School, Anderson was a four-year letter winner in swimming and the school’s swimmer of the year for all four years. She went on to swim at the University of Kansas, where she was one of the top swimmers in the butterfly and backstroke events. During her junior year, Anderson scored 77 points for her team at the 2011 Big 12 Championships.

Anderson had wanted to swim at the college level as early as her freshman year of high school. Swift told Oprah Winfrey in 2009 that she and her best friend were both living out their dreams.

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“She wanted to be a swimmer and go off on a college scholarship for swimming and I wanted to be a singer,” Swift said. “Now she’s off at Kansas on a swimming scholarship and I’m singing.”

She appears in Miss Americana and several of Swift’s music videos

Taylor Swift and Abigail Anderson in July 2016.Credit: Abigail Anderson Berard Instagram

In Swift’s 2019 documentary Miss Americana, Anderson makes a special appearance. As the pair catch up over dinner and drinks, they chat about a mutual friend who recently had a baby. Anderson tells Swift, “I think you’d be an excellent mother. No questions.”

Anderson also appears in several of Swift’s music videos, including “Picture to Burn,” “I’m Only Me When I’m with You,” “New Romantics” and, of course, “Fifteen.”

Anderson plays herself in the “Fifteen” video, in which she and Swift laugh together beside a blackboard during the verse about their first encounter.

Swift was a bridesmaid at her first wedding

Taylor Swift and Abigail Anderson in March 2023.Credit: Abigail Anderson Berard Instagram

Anderson married her first husband, photographer Matt Lucier, in September 2017, and Swift was a bridesmaid. The singer wore an elegant burgundy gown and carried the bride’s train into the Old Whaling Church in Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.

The pair later separated in 2021, as Anderson shared on her Instagram Stories.

She works at a payment technology company

Abigail Anderson in April 2023.Credit: Abigail Anderson Berard Instagram

Anderson works at Celero Commerce, a payment technology company, as the chief of staff for corporate development. According to the company’s website, Anderson manages mergers and acquisitions and “supports transaction planning and diligence execution.”

Anderson previously worked at Patriot Angels, a nonprofit that provides pension assistance for veterans and military spouses. In 2014, Swift told Entertainment Tonight that passion was an important quality in a friend.

“Abigail works with making sure that veterans from World War II get their compensation,” she said. “It couldn't be more different from my career or Lena [Dunham]'s career, but the fact that she is so passionate about what she does allows her to be able to relate to me on that level.”

She’s married to Charles Berard

Abigail Anderson and Charles Berard in October 2021.Credit: Abigail Anderson Berard Instagram

Anderson and Charles “Charlie” Berard, chief technology officer at Celero Commerce, tied the knot in September 2022. It’s unknown whether or not Swift attended the wedding.

On Feb. 14, 2023, Anderson posted a series of wedding photos, including a black-and-white shot of the couple sharing a kiss.

“My husband,” she captioned the post. “My best friend. My forever Valentine. I’d marry you every single day if I could.”

Anderson welcomed her first baby in August 2024

Taylor Swift and Abigail Anderson in December 2019.Credit: Abigail Anderson Berard Instagram

In July 2024, Anderson shared the news that she and Berard were expecting their first child together with an Instagram post that showed off her baby bump as she cradled a box of Cheez-Its in her arm.

In the caption, she quoted Swift's song, "But Daddy I Love Him," writing, "I’m having his babyyyy… 💙."

Swift commented on the post, "When the internet says ‘MOTHER’ I feel like this pic is actually what they mean."

Just weeks after announcing her pregnancy, Anderson returned to Instagram to share that her baby boy, whose name is Bennett, had arrived.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”