Taylor Swift is opening up with a heartbreaking update on her mother’s cancer battle.
The Lover singer revealed that her mum, Andrea Swift, has been diagnosed with a brain tumour amid ongoing treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer.
She shared the news in a Variety interview, published on Tuesday, about her upcoming Netflix documentary, Miss Americana.
Taylor first shared her mother’s cancer diagnosis in 2015. Although her mum went into remission, the cancer returned for a second time last March during the filming of the documentary.
“She was going through chemo, and that’s a hard enough thing for a person to go through,” Taylor told the magazine.
“While she was going through treatment, they found a brain tumour. And the symptoms of what a person goes through when they have a brain tumour is nothing like what we’ve ever been through with her cancer before. So it’s just been a really hard time for us as a family.”
The Grammy-winner called her 62-year-old mother a “guiding force” in her life.
“Almost every decision I make, I talk to her about it first,” she shared. “So obviously it was a really big deal to ever speak about her illness.”
Andrea Swift was seen in November cheering for her daughter alongside the singer’s father, Scott Swift, at the 2019 American Music Awards.
During the ceremony, Taylor was honoured with the Artist of the Decade award after performing a career-spanning medley of her greatest hits.
In her acceptance speech, Taylor made mention of her parents, seemingly bringing her mother to tears.
The recurrence of the cancer, Taylor told Variety, is one major reason why she has opted out of a world tour to promote her current album ― which features an emotional Dixie Chicks-assisted ballad, Soon You’ll Get Better, about her mother’s illness.
Instead, she plans to perform at a handful of festivals across Europe this summer, including headlining at the Glastonbury Music Festival alongside Paul McCartney, in addition to a select few tour dates in the United States.
“Yeah, that’s it. That’s the reason,” she said of her decision to take a different approach to touring.
“I mean, we don’t know what is going to happen. We don’t know what treatment we’re going to choose. It just was the decision to make at the time, for right now, for what’s going on.”
In an Elle interview last year, in which she revealed that her mother’s cancer had returned, Taylor said the diagnosis helped put things in focus for her.
“It’s taught me that there are real problems and then there’s everything else. My mum’s cancer is a real problem,” she wrote. “I used to be so anxious about daily ups and downs. I give all of my worry, stress, and prayers to real problems now.”