Taylor Swift is furious that people think all celebrities have "dirty secrets".
The 24-year-old singer wants to be known for her music, but over the years her personal life has hit the headlines too. She got so tired of hearing rumours about who she was dating and being referred to as someone who was unlucky in love that she stopped seeing boys altogether.
"That's what I don't like about celebrity culture and the obsession with it, and the takedown culture that we seem to be in," she told the American edition of Esquire magazine. "You have celebrities who are pushed to the brink of a public meltdown, and so the public thinks that every person in the public eye has dirty secrets that they're keeping, or isn't what they seem, or is masking it and faking sincerity, faking authenticity, faking being surprised at award shows when you win a Grammy."
The star sees her fame as a double-edged sword. While she understands how lucky she is, the constant speculation about her private life could have an effect on her lyrics if she isn't careful. This is something she is doing her utmost to stop happening.
"I'm not gonna let them make me have a meltdown. But, I think, as a songwriter you lose your edge if you find a way to protect yourself from everything they're going to say about you," she explained. "You lose touch with what made you vulnerable enough to connect with people in your songwriting. And that's not something I wanna do. So it's all about walking a tightrope between not being so fragile and breakable that they can level you with one blow and being raw enough to feel it and write about it when you feel it."
While untrue headlines aren't fun, Taylor has paid a higher price for her fame. She's been the victim of stalkers and, after railing against it for a long time, has hired security to watch out for her at all times.
The musician hasn't driven a car on her own for six years and admits it's hard not to get paranoid.
"They [her security] have to be in a car behind me. Because just the sheer number of men we have in a file who have showed up at my mom's house, threatened to either kill me, kidnap me, or marry me," she explained. "This is the strange and sad part of my life that I try not to think about. I try to be light-hearted about it, because I don't ever want to be scared. I don't want to be walking down the street scared."
