- POPSUGAR Australia
- Celebrity
- Everything We Know About Taylor Swift’s Parents, Scott and Andrea Swift
Everything We Know About Taylor Swift’s Parents, Scott and Andrea Swift
Getty / Rick Diamond/ACMA2013
Outside of her incredible music career, Taylor Swift is known for her close-knit support system of friends and family. The 12-time Grammy winner‘s friend circle includes stars like Blake Lively and Selena Gomez, but they aren’t the only ones that have been cheering for Swift throughout her musical journey. Since she was a child, the “Anti-Hero” singer’s parents, Scott and Andrea Swift, encouraged her love for music and pushed her to pursue her dreams of singing professionally.
“She was always singing music when she was 3, 5, 6, 7 years old,” Scott revealed to the University of Delaware’s UDaily. “It’s Taylor doing what she likes to do.”
According to People, Scott and Andrea married in Harris, TX, on Feb. 20, 1988, and welcomed Taylor into the world on Dec. 13, 1989. Along with her younger brother, Austin (born 1992), Swift was raised in a home on a Christmas Tree farm in Wyomissing, PA. “It was such a weird place to grow up. But it has cemented in me this unnatural level of excitement about fall and then the holiday season,” Swift previously explained to Esquire in 2014.
During that time, Swift took an interest in songwriting, and after landing an artist development deal with RCA, the Swift family moved from Pennsylvania to Hendersonville, TN, in hopes that she would make it big one day, and she did. “I never wanted to make that move about her ‘making it,”‘ Andrea previously explained to Entertainment Weekly (via E! News). “Because what a horrible thing if it hadn’t happened, for her to carry that kind of guilt or pressure around . . . We’ve always told her that this is not about putting food on our table or making our dreams come true.”
At 14 years old, Swift signed a record deal with Sony, and in 2006, she released her self-titled debut album that featured tracks like “Teardrops on My Guitar,” and “Our Song,” which helped propel her into the country music world. From there, Swift’s sound has transformed over the years from pop to folk, and she has continued to have the support of her parents through every music phase.
Keep reading to learn more about the “Karma” singer’s parents, Scott and Andrea!
Getty / Kevin Mazur / AMA2010 / Kevin Mazur/AMA2010
Who Is Taylor Swift's Mom? Andrea Swift
Before she fully dedicated herself to supporting Swift as an emerging pop star, Andrea Swift was a marketing manager at an advertising agency, and her experience in marketing turned out to be a huge help during Swift’s early days as an aspiring singer. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Swift’s then-manager, Rick Barker, said, “The parents already had her MySpace and her website up and running…The mom and dad both have great marketing minds. I don’t want to say fake it until you make it, but when you looked at her stuff, it was very professional even before she got her deal. And we put her music up there on MySpace before it was out.”
While Andrea has been by Swift throughout her music career, she has also had her fair share of health scares. In 2015, the “Cruel Summer” singer shared a heartfelt post on Tumblr that revealed her mom’s recent cancer diagnosis. “For Christmas this year, I asked my mom that one of her gifts to me be her going to the doctor to get screened for any health issues, just to ease some worries of mine,” she wrote (via People). “She agreed, and went in to get checked. There were no red flags and she felt perfectly fine, but she did it just to get me and my brother off her case about it. The results came in, and I’m saddened to tell you that my mom has been diagnosed with cancer. I’d like to keep the details of her condition and treatment plans private, but she wanted you to know.”
In 2019, Andrea’s cancer returned, and Swift shared the news in an Elle personal essay. “My mom is now fighting her battle with [cancer] again. 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 wrote.
Then, while Andrea was getting chemotherapy treatment, she encountered another health problem in 2020. “While she was going through treatment, they found a brain tumor,” Swift told Variety in a January 2020 interview. “The symptoms of what a person goes through when they have a brain tumor 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.”
Swift wrote the song, “Soon You’ll Get Better” about her mom’s journey with cancer. The song’s lyrics read in part, “And I hate to make this all about me / But who am I supposed to talk to? What am I supposed to do? If there’s no you.”
Getty / Rick Diamond
Who Is Taylor Swift's Dad? Scott Swift
Swift’s dad, Scott Swift, has a background in finance, and was a stockbroker before becoming the vice president of Merrill Lynch. In the early beginnings of Swift’s career, Scott was a large part in getting the “Blank Space” singer to closer to her dreams by moving his financial advisory business to the Nashville suburbs, per People.
Like Andrea, Scott has accompanied Swift during her many tours throughout her years as a singer. The “August” singer recently snapped a picture of her dad on the opening night of her Eras Tour in March 2023. In an Instagram story, Swift posted a picture of a backstage pass with “D.O.H. Pass (Dad of Headliner)” handwritten on the pass. “Made my Dad’s tour credential,” she captioned the pic (via People). “We are a small family business.”
In addition to attending a number of Swift’s concerts in 2023, Scott also attended the premiere of the “Eras Tour Concert” film in October 2023.
