Taylor Swift was "about to break" three years ago.
Taylor Swift
The 29-year-old singer experienced a huge backlash in 2016 after being caught up in public feuds with the likes of Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West, Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry, as well as locked in a sexual harassment lawsuit with a DJ who groped her, and she admitted the wave of hostility left her feeling "voiceless".
Taylor was criticised for not publicly supporting either now-President Donald Trump or his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, in the elections at that time but she thinks she felt like she would have been a "hindrance" to the female candidate, who she now confirms she would have endorsed.
She said: "The worst part of the timing of what happened in 2016 was I felt completely voiceless. I just felt like, oh God, who would want me? Honestly.
"I just felt completely, ugh, just useless. And maybe even like a hindrance."
When it was suggested backing Clinton would have worked in her favour, she told The Guardian newspaper: "I wasn't thinking like that. I was just trying to protect my mental health - not read the news very much, go cast my vote, tell people to vote. I just knew what I could handle and I knew what I couldn't. I was literally about to break. For a while."
The 'Me!' singer has vowed to do "everything [she] can" to support the Democratic candidate in the 2020 election because she's horrified about what her country looks like under President Trump.
She said: "It was just me and my life, and also doing a lot of self-reflection about how I did feel really remorseful for not saying anything. I wanted to try and help in any way that I could, the next time I got a chance. I didn't help, I didn't feel capable of it - and as soon as I can, I'm going to...
"The thing I can't get over right now is gaslighting the American public into being like" - she adopts a sanctimonious tone - 'If you hate the president, you hate America.'
"We're a democracy - at least, we're supposed to be - where you're allowed to disagree, dissent, debate. I really think that he thinks this is an autocracy...
"I mean, obviously, I'm pro-choice, and I just can't believe this is happening/ I can't believe we're here. It's really shocking and awful. And I just wanna do everything I can for 2020. I wanna figure out exactly how I can help, what are the most effective ways to help. 'Cause this is just... This is not it."
The 'You Need To Calm Down' singer admitted she also didn't feel "educated enough" about politics to speak about her views.
She said: "I hate to admit this, but I felt that I wasn't educated enough on it. Because I hadn't actively tried to learn about politics in a way that I felt was necessary for me, making statements that go out to hundreds of millions of people."
But Taylor also claimed she was advised to stay away from the subject when she began her career because of the huge boycott the Dixie Chicks faced in 2003 when they denounced the Iraq war.
She said: "I come from country music. The number one thing they absolutely drill into you as a country artist, and you can ask any other country artist this, is 'Don't be like the Dixie Chicks!'
"I watched country music snuff that candle out. The most amazing group we had, just because they talked about politics. And they were getting death threats. They were made such an example that basically every country artist that came after that, every label tells you, 'Just do not get involved, no matter what.' "
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