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The suicide bombing of Ariana Grande’s concert at Manchester Arena in 2017 shook Taylor Swift to her core.
The senseless tragedy, compounded by the Las Vegas music festival massacre five months later and stalkers breaking into Swift’s home on more than one occasion, have seen her take drastic measures to protect herself from possible violence.
“After [that], I was completely terrified to go on tour [for Reputation] because I didn’t know how we were going to keep 3 million fans safe over seven months,” she admitted in a new interview.
“There was a tremendous amount of planning, expense, and effort put into keeping my fans safe.
“My fear of violence has continued into my personal life,” she said, revealing she always carries a medical-grade product to stop bleeding should we get shot or stabbed.
“I carry QuikClot army grade bandage dressing, which is for gunshot or stab wounds.
“Websites and tabloids have taken it upon themselves to post every home address I’ve ever had online. You get enough stalkers trying to break into your house and you kind of start prepping for bad things.”
Swift, 29, also shared some sad news: her mother Andrea, who has battled cancer in the past, recently discovered the disease has returned.
“Both of my parents have had cancer, and my mom is now fighting her battle with it again. It’s taught me that there are real problems and then there’s everything else.
“My mum’s cancer is a real problem,” she continued. “I used to be so anxious about daily ups and downs. I give all of my worry, stress, and prayers to real problems now.”
Which brings us to Swift’s brief reflection on her feud with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. While she’s able to put the drama into perspective given her mother’s cancer diagnosis, Swift admitted the saga made her feel “lower than I’ve ever felt”.
“A few years ago, someone started an online hate campaign by calling me a snake on the internet,” she said, not naming Kardashian explicitly (but who could forget).
“The fact that so many people jumped on board with it led me to feeling lower than I’ve ever felt in my life, but I can’t tell you how hard I had to keep from laughing every time my 63-foot inflatable cobra named Karyn appeared onstage in front of 60,000 screaming fans,” she said.
:It’s the Stadium Tour equivalent of responding to a troll’s hateful Instagram comment with “lol.” It would be nice if we could get an apology from people who bully us, but maybe all I’ll ever get is the satisfaction of knowing I could survive it, and thrive in spite of it.”
