Taylor Swift was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City on Thursday, June 11. She gave a 21-minute speech, expressing her gratitude to her loved ones, especially her parents.
Taylor Swift was born on December 13, 1989, to Scott Kingsley Swift and Andrea Gardner Swift. The couple tied the knot on February 20, 1988. Scott was a stockbroker before he became Vice President at Merrill Lynch. Meanwhile, Andrea was a marketing manager at an advertising agency.
During her speech on Thursday, Swift teared up as she spoke about the support from her parents and said (h/t Variety):
“It was easy to choose songwriting over everything else in my life,” said Swift. “But it couldn’t have been easy for my parents and my brother to just pick up and move our entire family from Pennsylvania to relocate to Nashville so that I could hone my craft in the songwriting capital of the world.”
“But after making obvious that this was not even remotely a temporary phase their teen daughter was going through, they uprooted their entire lives to move me to Music City. And even though words are supposed to kind of be my thing, I will never be able to express my gratitude to you guys for doing that for me. You’re the reason I’m here tonight,” she added.
Scott and Andrea are also cancer survivors. While the details of their diseases remain private, Taylor Swift had previously revealed their diagnosis. Meanwhile, the superstar singer-songwriter also has a brother, Austin Swift, who was born on March 11, 1992.
When Taylor Swift spoke about her parents’ cancer diagnosis
In August 2015, Taylor Swift revealed in a Tumblr post that her mother, Andrea, is fighting cancer. She wrote that Andrea went to get a regular checkup when she was eventually diagnosed with the disease, writing:
“I’d like to keep the details of her condition and treatment plans private, but she wanted you to know. She wanted you to know why she may not be at as many shows this tour. She’s got an important battle to fight.”
In 2019, meanwhile, Swift revealed that her mother’s cancer had returned, writing in an essay in Elle:
“It’s taught me that there are real problems and then there’s everything else. My mom’s cancer is a real problem. I used to be so anxious about daily ups and downs. I give all of my worry, stress and prayers to real problems now.”
She then revealed in 2020 that Andrea was also diagnosed with a brain tumor when she was undergoing treatment for cancer. She also shared that her father, Scott, also underwent cancer treatment.
Taylor Swift further explained:
“Everyone loves their mom; everyone’s got an important mom. But for me, she’s really the guiding force. Almost every decision I make, I talk to her about it first. So obviously it was a really big deal to ever speak about her illness.”
The popstar also made two songs inspired by Andrea: The Best Day (2008) and Soon You’ll Get Better (2019).
Edited by Aditya Singh