Taylor Swift Says Feud with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian Felt Like ‘Career Death’: ‘I Went Down Really, Really Hard’

Taylor Swift reflects on how her feud with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian took a toll on her mentally.

The pop superstar, 33, is TIMEPerson of the Year 2023, and in the title interview, she spoke candidly about the 2016 incident in which the rapper (46) released the song “Famous” with vulgar lyrics about her, which she denied approving, and his then-wife, 43, announced a staged, taped phone conversation between them that led fans to believe otherwise.

She explained to the outlet that the moment and the public reaction felt like “career death” and “took [her] down psychological to place [she’d] never before.”

“Make no mistake — my career was taken away from me,” the “Cruel Summer” singer said.

Taylor Swift for TIME.

Photographs by Inez and Vinoodh for TIME

The Complete Taylor Swift and Kanye West Feud Timeline

“You have a completely made-up cover job, in an illegally recorded phone conversation, that Kim Kardashian edited and then told everyone I was a liar,” she recalled.

“It took me to a place mentally that I had never been before,” the Grammy winner continued. “I moved to a foreign country. I didn’t leave the rental house for a year. I was afraid to call. I pushed most of the people in my life away because I didn’t trust anyone anymore. I fell very, very hard.”

Taylor Swift for TIME.

Photographs by Inez and Vinoodh for TIME

Even before her feud with West and Kardashian, the “Karma” singer described feeling like she was at a vulnerable point in her career after some began describing her as overexposed in the years following the album’s release in 1989. She said, “I got all the hyenas to come up and film.”

After she responded to the viral moment in which many called her a “snake” by releasing a revenge theme Reputation, she continued to struggle with the reaction she received. “I thought that moment of negative reaction would negatively define me for the rest of my life,” the hitmaker said of the critical reaction to the 2017 project.

Kanye West and Kim Kardashian in New York in October 2019.

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

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Eventually, she said TIME that she learned to focus on her work and persevere as an artist. “I’m very careful to be grateful for every second that I’m doing it at this level, because it was taken away from me before,” she said. “There’s one thing I’ve learned: my response to everything that happens, good or bad, is to keep making things. Keep making art.”

“But I’ve also learned that there’s no point in actively trying to defeat your enemies,” she revealed. “The trash is just taken away every time.”

Taylor Swift for TIME.

Inez and Vinoodh for TIME

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Swift has been open about her feud with West in the past. She originally said the hip-hop star never played her “I made that bitch famous” line. In a taped phone call posted online by the reality star, the pair can be heard discussing the line “I feel like me and Taylor might still be having sex,” but after it was released, Swift wrote on Instagram that West never told her yes I will call her “that bitch” in the song.

Taylor Swift for TIME.

Photographs by Inez and Vinoodh for TIME

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In 2016, the spokesperson for Midnight the artist told PEOPLE that “Kanye wasn’t asking for approval, but asking Taylor to release his single ‘Famous’ on her Twitter account,” adding, “She refused and warned him about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message. Taylor was never aware of the actual line, ‘I made that bitch famous’.”

The singer-songwriter also opened up about her reaction to the incident and her history with West in 2019. Rolling stone cover story.

“The world didn’t understand the context and the events that led up to it,” Swift said in the interview. “Because nothing ever happens just like that without any introduction. Some events happened that made me angry [West] called me a bitch.”

“It wasn’t just an individual event,” she continued. “Basically, I was really sick of the dynamic between him and me. And it wasn’t just based on what happened during that phone call and that song — it was a chain reaction of things.”

“I started to feel like we reconnected, which was great for me — because all I wanted my whole career after what happened in 2009 was for him to respect me,” Swift said. “When someone disrespects you so loudly and says you literally don’t deserve to be here — I wanted that respect from him so badly, and I hate it in myself, that I thought, ‘This guy who’s against me, I just want his approval.’ But I was there.”

For more on Taylor Swift and her incredible year, get in touch PEOPLE 2023. the most intriguing people of the year number, on stands on Friday.

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