Taylor Swift Shares Her Worst Nightmare In an Interview with Rock Muse Pattie Boyd

Taylor Swift, pop’s megastar, may seem invincible: her latest album Reputation is a knowing mediation with a wink at her own fame, after all. But in a candid interview with rock ‘n’ roll muse Pattie Boyd, Swift discussed her “worst nightmare” — and it suggests she’s more sensitive to the tides of public opinion than we might think.

Swift sat down with Boyd for Harper’s Bazaar to ask her questions about her memoir Wonderful Tonight, which recalls her relationships with music icons like George Harrison and Eric Clapton. In the interview, Boyd described a particularly harrowing brush with Beatlemania at a show in London while she was dating Harrison. “[These girls] followed us out, and they were kicking me and pulling my hair and pushing us all the way down this long passageway,” Boyd remembered of the “absolutely terrifying” experience, adding that they were saying “We hate you.”

“That is my worst nightmare,” Swift responded. “You probably felt like, ‘If you knew me and I knew you, you would not be pulling my hair in an alleyway and saying, ‘I hate you.’’”

Swift has often made her listening sessions accessible to fans, and even responds to messages on social media platforms like Tumblr. Like any major celebrity, she has also addressed some of her criticism over the years. Even though one of her hit songs is called “Shake It Off,” it seems clear from Swift’s response to Boyd that dealing with haters doesn’t always come easy.

Swift is currently in the midst of her international Reputation stadium tour, with upcoming stops across the East Coast.