Taylor Swift has slammed Kim Kardashian for ‘taking her down psychologically’ and forcing her into hiding during their long-running feud before branding the reality star and her ex-husband Kanye West as ‘trash’.
The singer, 33, who has been named TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year, opened up on her dispute which started when Kim’s then-husband Kanye West wrote a 2016 song to include vulgar lyrics about the star.
The rapper had claimed that Taylor consented to the reference but, after denying it, Kim also weighed in and released what the popstar described as ‘an illegally recorded phone call’ between the pair.
Taylor has now said that the public fallout felt like ‘a career death,’ adding: ‘Make no mistake — my career was taken away from me.’
Discussing further, Taylor told the outlet: ‘You have a fully manufactured frame job, in an illegally recorded phone call, which Kim Kardashian edited and then put out to say to everyone that I was a liar.’
‘That took me down psychologically to a place I’ve never been before. I moved to a foreign country. I didn’t leave a rental house for a year. I was afraid to get on phone calls.’
Although the singer didn’t reveal where she moved to, Swift began dating British actor Joe Alwyn in late 2016, and at the time it was widely rumored that she had rented a home in London to spend more time with him.
During that period, she vanished from the public eye, something that she says came as a result of the Kardashian and West fallout.
‘I pushed away most people in my life because I didn’t trust anyone anymore. I went down really, really hard.’
Most of the pop icon’s next album Reputation, released in 2017, was aimed at her experience during the ordeal.
‘I thought that moment of backlash was going to define me negatively for the rest of my life,’ she explained.
Elaborating on how life in the limelight can be delicate, Taylor added: ‘Nothing is permanent. So I’m very careful to be grateful every second that I get to be doing this at this level, because I’ve had it taken away from me before.
‘There is one thing I’ve learned: My response to anything that happens, good or bad, is to keep making things. Keep making art.’
However, she took another swing at Kardashian, West, and anyone else who she believes has tried to stifle her success, remarking: ‘Trash takes itself out every single time.’
‘But I’ve also learned there’s no point in actively trying to quote unquote defeat your enemies,’ she said. ‘Trash takes itself out every single time.’
