Benjamin Button

Benjamin Button is a blue-eyed Ragdoll and the youngest of Taylor Swift's three cats, with an origin story unusually well documented: he was adopted mid-shoot. On the 2019 set of the music video for 'Me!', a handler carried out a tiny kitten as a prop, and Swift — by her own account — fell for him instantly and asked to take him home. He makes his debut in that same video, tucked into her arms, and has been part of the household ever since.

He is named, like his sisters, after a fictional character — the title role of the 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button — continuing the pattern set by Meredith Grey (Grey's Anatomy) and Olivia Benson (Law & Order: SVU). As a Ragdoll he is a different animal from the two Scottish Folds he lives with: a large, placid, floppy breed known for going limp when picked up and for following people around the house like a dog.

Since joining one of the most-watched families in pop culture, Benjamin has become a fixture of Swift's social media and a favourite of her fanbase, popping up in behind-the-scenes photos and the occasional public appearance. His adoption also quietly made a point that rescue organisations were happy to amplify — that one of the world's biggest stars added to her family not by seeking out a breeder, but by saying yes to a kitten who happened to wander onto set.