*Chapter 454: Public Opinion Explosion*

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

In the villa, Link put down his phone, took a sip of water, and continued hitting the pear-shaped ball. While he was training, Taylor and Ivanka were also proceeding with their plans in an orderly manner.

The bodyguards in the manor first set up a trap, capturing a guy who was secretly following the servants. They used two thousand dollars to pry open his mouth and found out that someone had hired them to gather information here.

It was said that the manor was hiding the child of country music queen Taylor Swift. The employer hoped they could take photos of Taylor appearing in the manor, preferably with the children, each photo worth thousands to tens of thousands of dollars.

However, the manor had surveillance and bodyguards with firearms, making it unwise to break in for a few thousand dollars and risk their lives or imprisonment.

After receiving the news, Taylor breathed a sigh of relief, but the existence of the children had already been exposed, making it unrealistic to continue hiding them.

The PR teams began discussing how to gradually resolve this issue.

Before they were fully prepared, on July 12th, the "New York Observer" published a bombshell on its front page: The miscarriage incident of country music queen Taylor Swift in early February was suspected to be fake. It was a fabricated event by Taylor Swift to maintain her pure and sweet idol image, and her child was perfectly fine.

The report stated that Taylor's child was being hidden in a manor near the Great Smoky Mountains in Nashville, less than five kilometers from Elvis Presley's Graceland. Taylor bought this manor at the end of last year for 2.2 million dollars, covering an area of over two hectares.

Six nannies and servants were taking care of the child in the manor, guarded by multiple bodyguards, making it impossible for outsiders to enter.

The article mentioned eyewitnesses claiming that Taylor frequently traveled to Nashville in the first half of the year and even stayed in the manor for a while.

The report also included several exterior photos of the manor, Taylor's travel schedule to and from Nashville in the first half of the year, and a photo of Taylor shopping at a baby store in Los Angeles, perfectly corroborating the authenticity of the news.

The "New York Observer" is a weekend newspaper under the Kunis Group, mainly distributed in the Manhattan area of New York, with a circulation of about 30,000 copies per issue. The newspaper mainly reports recent political, economic, and cultural news, with a heavyweight celebrity interview in each issue, making it a must-read for social elites, literary circles, and political circles, with great influence in the Manhattan area.

After the news of Taylor hiding her child was exposed, it caused a huge sensation in America, with many major media outlets scrambling to reprint the report.

On the same day, major media outlets including ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox Television Network urgently replaced their headlines, making this news the focus of their reports. Various news websites also prominently featured this news.

Many news websites had headlines like "Link and Taylor's child did not die," simple and crude, with large red fonts to highlight the title.

This wave of public opinion came too fast and too strong, exceeding the expectations of Link and Taylor. They did not anticipate such high media and public attention to this matter, nor did they expect the news they jointly created to have such a significant impact.

Given the current state of public opinion, unless there is a war, natural disaster, or man-made disaster, no other news can affect the heat of this news.

After the major media reported this matter, the media and the public first needed to clarify one thing: Is the news from the "New York Observer" true? Is Taylor and Link's child really still alive?

As a result, hundreds of media reporters surrounded the headquarters of Big Machine Records that day, demanding an interview with Taylor.

Dozens of reporters also took a different approach, running to Lionsgate to block Link, hoping to get some news from him.

Many reporters also went to the manor in Nashville to investigate the news on the spot.

Taylor and Link remained silent for the time being, with no one coming forward to explain, and silence is often a form of expression.

On that day, the mainstream American public opinion on this matter gradually shifted from speculation to confirmation.

Many media outlets released news reports from February, where there were many speculations about the authenticity of this matter, believing that with Taylor's situation and conditions, the probability of an accident with the child was very low.

Due to the lack of conclusive evidence, the media shifted their focus after a while.

Looking back now, the initial speculations were entirely correct.

The public began to hold their breath, brewing emotions, and everyone was eager to know why Taylor did this.

After the media and the public confirmed the news, Taylor held a press conference at the Big Machine Records branch in Nashville at 2 p.m. the next day.

More than thirty media reporters were invited to attend. The press conference was hosted by Taylor's executive agent, Emily, and country music queen Taylor Swift appeared at the press conference and answered reporters' questions.

At the press conference, Taylor admitted that the child was indeed still alive, very healthy, and had not had any accidents. She also told reporters that it was a pair of adorable twins.

At the same time, Taylor's Facebook account also posted photos of the children, a boy and a girl, one with short black hair and the other with two small pigtails, with light blonde hair. Both were chubby and cute, with a few daily photos of Taylor in casual clothes with the children.

The pictures were very warm and loving.

Seeing the children so cute and Taylor so gentle and sweet, many people who initially wanted to scold her couldn't bring themselves to do it.

Many netizens' comments changed from scolding to "so cute," "so beautiful," "little angels," "twins, so lucky," "what are their names?"

Of course, there were also many angry netizens who cursed.

They believed that Taylor shouldn't have done this, deceiving the media, the public, and her fans. She was not a good mother, nor a good idol, and strongly demanded that Taylor quit the industry and go home to take care of her children.

At the press conference, reporters also asked Taylor why she made excuses to hide the children and what her purpose was. Was it to maintain her pure image as speculated online?

Taylor denied it, saying that she was too young at the time and not ready to be a mother. She made a mistake in a moment of confusion.

Later, seeing the children grow up day by day, she deeply regretted it. She shouldn't have hidden the children, nor should she have deceived the public and her fans. She felt very sorry for the children and apologized sincerely.

Seeing Taylor apologize publicly and shed tears, the negative emotions in people's hearts were mostly alleviated.

As for the online speculation that Taylor did this to maintain her pure image, almost no one supported it because Taylor hid the existence of the children but did not hide the fact that she was pregnant.

Her pure image was almost gone when she attended the MTV Video Music Awards with a big belly last September. People's impression of her changed from a single girl to a single mother.

So her mistake was mainly deceiving the media and the public, not being honest.

People were angry because they felt deceived.

Reporters continued to ask Taylor how she planned to raise the children and what her plans were.

Taylor said she would temporarily withdraw from the music industry to take care of the children and consider her music career after the children grew up a bit.

Hearing this, netizens' negative emotions were mostly alleviated.

Only Taylor's fans expressed regret that they wouldn't be able to hear her new songs for a while due to her temporary withdrawal.

Many fans asked Taylor not to withdraw for too long, hoping she would only rest for a few weeks or months.

Despite Taylor's reasonable explanation, sincere apology, and temporary withdrawal to show her remorse at the press conference, the media, who rely on sensational news to make money, would not easily let go of such a high-profile, controversial news.

Letting go of such news would not be in the media's interest.

After the press conference, many major media outlets came forward to discuss the matter.

The mainstream public opinion on this matter was "serious disappointment," "condemnation," and "cannot be easily forgiven."

Even the most serious "New York Times" commented that Taylor made a serious mistake in this matter.

To some extent, it violated the children's human rights and the legitimate rights of American citizens because the two children were born in America and were legitimate American citizens with all the basic rights stipulated by the Constitution.

Taylor's actions were not just a private matter but also a violation of the law, and an apology was not enough.

The Nashville District Attorney's Office also filed a lawsuit against Taylor, and the court and civil affairs agencies had to reconsider whether Taylor was qualified to continue raising the two children.

But this is America, where many things can be settled with money. Taylor spent more than 400,000 dollars in bail to settle the matter.

While the media focused their criticism on Taylor, a theory gradually gained support online.

This theory claimed that Taylor was also a victim in this matter, and the real culprit should be Link.

If it weren't for his infidelity and breakup with Taylor, she wouldn't have had to face the challenge of raising two children alone and wouldn't have made the impulsive decision to hide the children.

Now that Taylor was being criticized, Link couldn't stay out of it.

This theory also gained support from many media outlets, who began to criticize Link, calling him a scumbag and a bad father, demanding that he also come forward and apologize publicly.

At this juncture, Link's representative lawyer, Aaron Hornack, came forward and publicly stated that he would fight