Taylor Swift kept quiet about her political beliefs because she was just trying to "protect my mental health".
The 29-year-old singer attracted criticism when she refused to endorse a candidate in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, which saw Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump battling for the White House.
But explaining her decision to keep her feelings private, Taylor cited the difficult time in her life - following her mother's cancer relapse and a new argument in her very public feud with Kanye West and his wife Kim Kardashian.
"I was just trying to protect my mental health – not read the news very much, go cast my vote, tell people to vote. I just knew what I could handle and I knew what I couldn’t. I was literally about to break," she told Britain's The Guardian newspaper. "(I felt) just useless. And maybe even like a hindrance."
Adding that she now feels "really remorseful for not saying anything”, Taylor told the publication she would otherwise have endorsed Hillary Clinton for president.
But Hillary fell at the final hurdle, meaning businessman-turned-politician Donald became the President. The former host of The Apprentice has faced huge criticism during his term so far, with Taylor slamming the 73-year-old in her latest interview.
"We’re a democracy – at least, we’re supposed to be – where you’re allowed to disagree, dissent, debate. I really think that he thinks this is an autocracy," she said of the president.
