Olivia Benson (cat)

Olivia Benson was purchased by Swift in June 2014 as a kitten.^[1] She has osteochondrodysplasia,^[2][3] a degenerative joint disease, which affects all Scottish Fold cats.^[4][5] Olivia, like Swift's two other cats, is named after a fictional character, taking after Olivia Benson, the main protagonist of American crime drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit played by Mariska Hargitay.^[1] Swift's eldest cat, Meredith Grey, is another Scottish Fold, named after the Grey's Anatomy character, and the youngest cat is Benjamin Button, a Ragdoll named after the titular character of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.^[6] Meredith and Olivia's names, Swift told Rolling Stone in September 2014, were themed after "strong, complex, independent women".^[7] In September 2014, Swift was pictured carrying Olivia around the streets of New York City; Swift noted that this was due to Olivia's inability to cope with being in a cat carrier.^[8]

In October 2014, Keds released an advertising campaign featuring Olivia for their "Sneaky Cat" shoes, which featured Swift's birthday on the back, to promote Swift's album 1989.^[9] Later that month, Olivia featured in a Diet Coke commercial in which Swift drank Diet Coke as more and more kittens appeared with every sip.^[6]

In November 2014, Olivia appeared in a Swift music video ("Blank Space") for the first time.^[10] In 2015, Olivia met American actress Mariska Hargitay, who played the Olivia Benson character in Law & Order.^[11] In 2017, Ed Sheeran bought his own Scottish Fold,^[12] Calippo,^[13] to match Swift's cats.^[14] Increased interest in the breed as a result of Swift and Sheeran posting them to their Instagram accounts prompted the British Veterinary Association to call for a ban on the breed and for Veterinary Record to review its use in adverts.^[15] Later that year, Olivia appeared in an outtake of an AT&T commercial, and the following year she appeared in a DirecTV commercial in which Swift rode a giant "caticorn" version of Olivia.^{[note 1][16]}

In April 2019, Olivia and Meredith appeared in Swift's "Me!" music video, along with Benjamin,^[17] who Swift subsequently adopted.^[18] The cats also appeared in Miss Americana, Swift's 2020 autobiographical documentary film.^[19][20] In May 2023, a sleeping Olivia featured in the music video for Swift's "Karma".^[21]

• Cultural depictions of cats
• List of individual cats
• List of Law & Order characters