Taylor Swift has discussed the self-hatred and unbearable trolling that forced her to go into hiding for a year.
The singer-songwriter is the subject of the new Netflix documentary, Miss Americana, which follows her over the course of several years of her career, documenting her personal and professional successes and hardships.
Throughout the movie, Taylor speaks about her efforts to shed her "nice girl" image from her early years as a country music artist, and choosing to finally state her political views publicly.
"Throughout my whole career, label executives would say, 'A nice girl doesn't force her opinions on people,'" the 30-year-old said in footage from the film. "'A nice girl smiles and waves and says thank you.'"
She added: "I became the person everyone wanted me to be."
After a string of high-profile spats with celebrities including Katy Perry, Kim Kardashian, and Kanye West, however, the ME! hitmaker went into hiding, admitting, "No one physically saw me for a year."
While Taylor admitted she did "what I thought they wanted," she revealed taking time out forced her to "deconstruct an entire belief system" as she figured out who she really was, realising she wanted to be independent and vocal.
Shortly afterwards, the star came out in support of former Democratic Party presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2018 midterm election, having never spoken about politics before, because she wanted to "be on the right side of history".
"I feel really good about not being muzzled any more," she commented. "And it was my own doing."
Taylor has gone on to speak publicly about various issues, urging fans to vote for the Democratic Party in the 2020 U.S. presidential election and slamming record executive Scooter Braun's acquisition of the masters to her first six albums.
