NEED TO KNOW
Taylor Swift revealed that she temporarily moved in with her dad Scott Swift as he recovered from a major quintuple bypass surgery.
In the 14-time Grammy winner’s first appearance on her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s New Heights podcast on Wednesday, Aug. 13, she revealed that her dad Scott, 73, underwent the “really intense” surgery this summer.
“So, it it all happened really quick,” Taylor, 35, recounted. She then revealed that her father had a “perfect EKG” every time he went to the doctor for annual physicals.
However, after he underwent a cardiac stress test, doctors found five blockages in his heart.
“So, he’s been telling all his friends, ‘you need to get the stress test because that’s what’s actually preventative.’ If you can find that earlier, you don’t have to have a bypass surgery,” Taylor said. “You can sort out those blockages with stents and things that are a lot less invasive.”
While Scott insisted that his children, both Taylor and Austin Swift, were “busy” and did not need to come down for the surgery, the “Blank Space” singer immediately met up with family at the hospital, and later moved in with him for the summer as he recovered.
Rick Diamond/Getty
“He said something about like when a cat is injured, it curls up around a tree and heals itself. I was like, ‘Dad, cats don’t have quintuple bypass,’ ” Taylor recalled. Kelce, 35, chimed in, “He tried to relate, he tried.”
Taylor then detailed the moment that her dad woke up from surgery. “He wakes up from surgery, and it’s my mom, my brother, and me and his best friend. He did like a comedy act, a comedy set for 15 minutes. He was the funniest he’s ever been, and he’s usually really funny,” Swift said.
When Taylor told her father he wound up having five blockages removed, he replied, “Well, you see, I come from a very competitive family.”
“And it was kind of wild because it was like, very parent-child reversal in a lot of ways. My brother and my mom and I were each taking shifts in the ICU and staying with him 24/7,” Taylor continued.
The pop star then revealed that even after the intense surgery, her dad still tried to continue an ongoing tour tradition. “He came out of surgery, tried to give guitar picks to all the nurses and doctors, but he wasn’t wearing pants, didn’t have pockets, hospital gown, you know?” Taylor said.
Taylor then confirmed that she and her family essentially “moved in” with him for the summer. “I’m like, this dude built play sets and swing sets and cribs for me. I’m building his shower chair and his walker, and his bed that goes like this,” she said, gesturing an accessible bed for her father’s recovery journey.
Rick Diamond/ACMA2013/Getty
She added, “It’s just surreal, man,” before also detailing that “You can’t really walk on your own” after the surgery. “We had a little harness for my dad, just like walking dad on his harness,” she said, laughing.
“And he was like the loveliest patient ever. He just kept saying thank you over and over again,” Taylor said. Travis replied that Scott is “full of life” and “appreciative that doctors caught it.”
Swift appeared on New Heights for the first time for a wide-ranging conversation with Travis and his brother, Jason Kelce. The singer announced her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, will be released on Oct. 3.
