Taylor Swift has revealed her 2016 feud with Kanye West and his then-wife Kim Kardashian "took (her) down psychologically".
After the 'Cruel Summer' singer claimed she had not given the rapper permission to call her a "b**tch" in his song 'Famous', Kim posted a recording of a phone call between Taylor and Kanye to seemingly suggest that she did.
Taylor stepped away from the public eye after the incident, which had a huge impact on her mental health.
"Make no mistake - my career was taken away from me," Taylor told Time magazine, adding: "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."
Revealing how badly the feud affected her, the 33-year-old continued, "I moved to a foreign country. I didn't leave a rental house for a year. I was afraid to get on phone calls. I pushed away most people in my life because I didn't trust anyone anymore. I went down really, really hard."
Taylor returned with her 2017 album Reputation, which was initially met with scepticism. At the time, she was concerned she wouldn't be able to shake off the 2016 incident.
"I thought that moment of backlash was going to define me negatively for the rest of my life."
However, she's come out the other side, saying: "There is one thing I’ve learned - my response to anything that happens, good or bad, is to keep making things. Keep making art.”
“But I’ve also learned there’s no point in actively trying to quote-unquote defeat your enemies,” she added.
“Trash takes itself out every single time.”
In 2020, The Kardashians star denied editing footage of the phone call, writing on X/Twitter, "To be clear, the only issue I ever had around the situation was that Taylor lied through her publicist who stated that 'Kanye never called to ask for permission...' They clearly spoke so I let you all see that. Nobody ever denied the word 'b**ch' was used without her permission."
Kim and Kanye, who share four children, finalised their divorce last year.
© Cover Media with additional reporting from Sophie van Soest.
