Taylor Swift Opens Up About Her Sexual Assault Case And Being Labeled A Snake

Months ahead of her 30th birthday in December — and also a week soon after exploring the "Power of Pop" in an essay for Elle UK — Taylor Swift has penned a new piece called "30 Things I Learned Before Turning 30" for Elle. This lifestyle op-ed specifics lessons that have been instilled in the singer over the course of her lengthy career and is reminiscent of Robert Greene's 48 Laws of Power, except it's infinitely nicer. Of the 30 personalized anecdotes and life lessons, one of the most telling is that she believes victims of sexual assault no matter what.


In the entry, Swift talks about her own 2017 sexual assault trial, where she countersued a radio DJ who claimed that the singer had him improperly fired soon after an allegation that he'd groped her. (His case was dismissed; Swift was awarded $1, the symbolic amount she asked for.) Here, she uses the scenario to explain her own view. "I believe victims because I know firsthand about the shame and stigma that comes with raising your hand and saying 'This happened to me,'" she writes. "It's something no one would pick for themselves. We speak up because we have to, and out of fear that it might happen to someone else if we don't."


Elsewhere in the list, Swift also discusses the fallout from indirectly being labeled a "snake" in 2016 by Kim Kardashian and why she incorporated the serpent into the rollout for her 2017 album, Reputation. "A few years prior, someone began an online hate campaign by calling me a snake on the world wide web she writes. "The fact that so several people jumped on board with it led me to feeling lower than I've ever felt in my life, although I can't tell you how hard I had to keep from laughing every time my 63-foot inflatable cobra named Karyn appeared onstage in front of 60,000 screaming fans."


"It could be nice if we may get an apology from people who bully us," Swift continued, yet maybe all I'll ever get is the satisfaction of knowing I might survive it, and thrive in spite of it."


Swift's full list of learned wisdom — including 28 other entries that length love, self-image, social media, and more — is noticed right here. And in the event you aspire to relive her serpentine string of live shows, Swift's Reputation Stadium Tour is on Netflix.