SPEAKING OUT
Taylor Swift finally opens up about the bullying that sent her into hiding.
It was a major mystery. Midway through 2016, Taylor Swift dropped out of sight: She vanished from social media and turned down public appearances, awards shows and red carpets, save for a single concert in February 2017. She failed to host her annual star-studded Fourth of July party at her Rhode Island mansion. As months dragged on, fans wondered where she was and if she was OK. Even when she released her Reputation album in November, she declined interviews.
Now Taylor’s back for her Reputation Stadium Tour — and she’s finally revealing why she went into hiding for more than 18 months. “A couple of years ago, someone called me a snake on social media and it caught on,” the singer told fans during her May 8 kickoff show in Arizona. That was a clear reference to the fallout after Kanye West’s wife, Kim Kardashian, branded her a serpent and leaked a phone conversation on Snapchat which showed Taylor giving the rapper permission to release a song with sexual lyrics about her — even though Taylor had insisted she hadn’t. Taylor, 28, admitted to fans that she “went through some really low times for a while because of it” and even “didn’t know if I was going to get to do this anymore.” As she struggled to cope with anger, embarrass- ment and career uncertainty, explains an insider, “she decided to go into hiding to reflect on life and focus on her music.” She also fell hard for British actor Joe Alwyn, 27, and decided to give the relationship a chance to succeed by “really getting to know him away from the Hollywood scene,” notes the insider. Taylor is still healing, but now that she’s on the road in support of her cathartic album, “she feels ready to set the record straight,” the insider adds, “and isn’t holding back when it comes to expressing herself.”
SHOWING A NEW SIDE
Taylor doesn’t want to fuel any more drama. Hours before her first tour stop, she shared an Instagram Stories clip revealing that she and another longtime rival, Katy Perry — who sent her a literal olive branch and an apology note — had put a lengthy feud behind them. And when it comes to Kim and Kanye, “she’s being careful about choosing her words,” explains the insider. “Rather than acting hateful” toward those she feels have wronged her, Taylor is trying to be more diplomatic and relatable.
She’s famous for attacking enemies in her song lyrics, but now she’s letting fans know how much it hurt to have people lash out at her. “She wanted to publicly admit how deeply affected she was by the way Kim and Kanye treated her and how their actions caused her to sink to an all-time low,” says the insider. “She’s speaking out about cyberbullying and wants fans who are going through similar experiences to know they’re not alone.” At each tour stop now, Taylor preaches to the crowd that even when people pile on, especially after someone uses name- calling as a bullying tactic, “that doesn’t have to defeat you. It can strengthen you instead.”
Taylor might have been humbled by the whole messy experience, but she’s come through it stronger than ever. She’s learned that “you shouldn’t care so much if you feel misunderstood by a lot of people who don’t know you, as long as you feel understood by the people who do know you,” the insider says. Though Taylor is unlikely to forgive Kanye and Kim for putting her through hell, “her goal,” the insider says, “is to prove to her haters that from now on, no one can knock her down.”