Taylor Swift's devastating family heartache as she opens up on ‘real problem’

At the end of last year, influential American publication Time magazine gave Taylor Swift their Person of the Year award. In the accompanying interview, the singer remarked on the global success of The Eras Tour: “It feels like the breakthrough moment of my career, happening at 33. And for the first time in my life, I was mentally tough enough to take what comes with that.”

And what does come with that? A level of fame experienced only by a handful of women across the planet, at any point in modern times – equivalent only to the attention experienced by legendary icons like Elizabeth Taylor, Princess Diana and Madonna; an almost unprecedented level of intrusion into her private life (admittedly fuelled by the confessional nature of her lyrics); and, of course, enormous pressure not to fail.

Over the years, the attention, both good and bad, has had an effect on Taylor’s mental health, but from the word go, she has shared her emotions via the cathartic medium of her song-writing. In 2010, she said, “From a young age, any time I would feel pain I would think, ‘It’s OK, I can write about this after school.’ As a young kid, I learned to process my emotions by writing. Any time something hurts, like rejection or sadness or loneliness, or I feel joy, or I fall in love, I ask myself, ‘Can I write a song about this so I know how I feel?’”.

READ MORE: Strictly Come Dancing star exits series but fans say the wrong person went

READ MORE: Molly Mae Hague shows off new sparkling diamond ring with sweet personal meaning

As a result, Taylor’s been open about the battles she’s faced, from being bullied at school, to her mum’s cancer battle, her sexual assault case and the devastating sale of her album master rights. She could hardly have imagined back in 2016, when it seemed her career might be over, that she would make it onto the Forbes World Billionaire List, as she did this year.

It was the height of the feud between her, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, which had started at the MTV Music Video Awards in 2009. Kanye ambushed Taylor on stage as she accepted her award for Best Female Video, shouting, “Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you and I’ma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time!” An apology was given, but the feud rumbled on until a public reconciliation in 2015.

Then there was the “bitch” bombshell – releasing a track called Famous in 2016, Kanye sang, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that bitch famous.” He said the song had Taylor’s blessing, which Taylor denied. Then Kim claimed to have a recording of Taylor agreeing to the track, branding her a snake. Snake emojis abounded over the internet, as did the hashtag #taylorswiftisoverparty.

But Taylor got her revenge, embracing the snake motif and making it central to her Reputation tour and album. It looked like she’d had the last laugh. However, in 2019 she spoke of the impact the episode had on her life, saying, “A mass public shaming, with millions of people saying you are quote-unquote cancelled, is a very isolating experience. I don’t think there are many people who can actually understand what it’s like to have millions of people hate you very loudly.”

She added, “I realised I needed to restructure my life because it felt completely out of control. I knew I needed to make music about it because I knew it was the only way I could survive it. It was the only way I could preserve my mental health and also tell the story of what it’s like to go through something so humiliating.” In last year’s Time interview, Taylor reiterated, “Make no mistake, my career was taken away from me… I didn’t leave a rental house for a year. I was afraid to get on phone calls. I pushed away most people in my life because I didn’t trust anyone anymore.”

That theme of taking back control is one that would resonate through all of her struggles – and her solution to working through them. In 2022, one contemporary, Jessica McLane claimed, “Most people hated her” when Taylor was at Hendersonville High School in Nashville. The singer invited her classmates to the 2009 CMA Awards, but not, seemingly, as an act of friendship: “She invited us to the CMAs to say f*ck you. And we deserved it,” said Jessica.

Perhaps the best illustration of Taylor’s girl power, however, has been her reaction to losing the master rights to her first six albums. In 2019, Scooter Braun bought Big Machine Records, previously owned by Scott Borchetta, and with it the rights to her songs. Taylor had been given the chance to buy the rights, but only if she locked in with Big Machine for another six albums. But while she lost the rights to the recorded music, as the songwriter, she still had the publishing rights.

From 2021 onwards, she started to rerecord her albums as “Taylor’s Version”. The case will be studied by copyright lawyers for years to come, and served as a boost for the rights of recording artists everywhere. Likewise, in 2017, Taylor stood up for the rights of wronged women with her civil sexual assault case against KYGO DJ David Mueller. The DJ lost his job after Taylor’s team told his bosses he’d groped the star during a 2013 meet and greet, and he sued her for defamation.

Her mother Andrea explained that initially, she and Taylor had wanted to deal with it quietly, saying, “I did not want this event to define her life. I did not want her to have to live through the endless memes and gifs that tabloid media and internet trolls decided to come up with – doctoring the pictures… and making her relive this awful moment over and over again.”

By going to court, Taylor made a stand for women who feel unable to report sexual assault. She won, and Mueller had to pay symbolic damages of $1. Taylor’s resilience in standing up for herself in the face of bullies – be it school, the record industry or the media – has been boosted by an unbreakable family bond, in particular with mum Andrea. She calls her mother her “guiding force”, and says, “She raised me to be logical and practical. I was brought up with such a strong woman in my life and I think that had a lot to do with me not wanting to do anything halfway.”

Devastatingly, in 2015 Andrea was diagnosed with cancer. She had been a familiar face on Taylor’s tours, accompanying her daughter to shows all over the world, and Taylor told her fans on Tumblr, “She wanted you to know why she may not be at as many shows this tour. She’s got an important battle to fight.”

On her album Lover, Taylor included a song entitled, Soon You’ll Get Better. The heartbreaking lyrics include the lines, “And I hate to make this all about me / But who am I supposed to talk to? / What am I supposed to do / If there’s no you". She told Elle magazine, “It’s taught me that there are real problems and then there’s everything else. My mom’s cancer is a real problem. I used to be so anxious about daily ups and downs. I give all of my worry, stress and prayers to real problems now.”

Late in 2019, Andrea’s cancer returned and the following year she was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Taylor said, “The symptoms of what a person goes through when they have a brain tumour is nothing like what we’ve ever been through with her cancer before. So it’s just been a really hard time for us as a family.”

Taylor has not given an update on Andrea’s health battles for a while, but appearances at Eras Tour concerts and Travis Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs games suggest that she’s bounced back – and hopefully will be by her daughter’s side, supporting her for years to come. But whatever happens in the future, no doubt Taylor will write about it. As says, “There is one thing I’ve learned: my response to anything that happens, good or bad, is to keep making things. Keep making art.”