The role reversal in caring for parents is 'wild.' Taylor Swift knows it all too well.

USA Today

2 days ago

When Taylor Swift's father, Scott Swift, underwent a quintuple bypass surgery this summer, he said what many dads in his situation might say to their kids: "You guys are busy... don't come."
But the pop star knew better. She was there with her mom and brother when her dad woke up from his procedure, and stayed with him as he recovered.
"We just all moved in with him for the whole summer, pretty much," Swift said, adding that he needed help walking around. "He was, like, the loveliest patient ever. He just kept saying, 'thank you' over and over again."
Swift opened up about her father's surgery, and her role as one of his caregivers, during her appearance on her boyfriend Travis Kelce's podcast, "New Heights," which he co-hosts with his brother Jason Kelce. During the interview, which has garnered more than 15 million views on YouTube since it streamed on Aug. 13, Swift also talked about her life during the Eras Tour, falling for Travis Kelce, her approach to social media, her new sourdough making obsession and she announced her next album, "The Life of a Showgirl."
Swift said she, her brother Austin Swift and her mother Andrea Swift took shifts caring for her dad as he recovered from surgery, and said he's now "doing incredibly well."
Sharing details about her dad's health was a rare moment for Swift, who tends to not discuss her family's personal lives. Swift's caregiving story is also significant in the care world, where advocates are always trying to spread awareness about the struggles of caregivers, who now make up nearly 25% of the American adult population, according to a recent report from the AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving.
Other celebrities have recently come forward to tell their own caregiving stories, including Academy Award-nominated actor Bradley Cooper and Emmy Award-winning actress Uzo Aduba.
"It is a reminder that everyone has a care concern," said Jocelyn Frye, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families. "Everyone wants their mom or their dad, their spouse, their child, their family member to be cared for. Having high profile people who presumably have access to resources talk about their struggles also is a reminder that these issues are hard for everyone."
Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan, AARP's CEO, said the organization hears every day from family caregivers who are managing medications, coordinating appointments, bathing loved ones, navigating insurance claims and "doing it all while working, raising children, and trying to stay afloat financially and emotionally."
"Taylor Swift's openness about caring for her father shines a light on what 63 million Americans are experiencing right now," Minter-Jordan said. "Perhaps most heartbreaking, nearly a quarter of caregivers say they feel completely alone. When public figures like Taylor share their caregiving journey, it helps break that isolation, validates caregivers' experiences, and underscores why we must build systems that see them, value them, and support them.'
'Parent-child reversal'
Swift said her father's five heart blockages were detected in a resting stress test, not in his yearly EKG.
"He's been telling all his friends, 'You need to get the stress test,'" Swift said. "Because that's what's actually preventative."
Once the blockages were found, Swift said, "it all happened really quick."
"It was kind of wild, because it was, like... it was very parent-child reversal," Swift said.
She recalled fighting with her parents as a teenager when she would sneak her cell phone into her room at night to talk to friends. When her dad was recovering, she said, Swift and her brother had to monitor their dad's cell phone use.
"I'm having these moments where 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," she said. "It's just surreal, man."
Swift mentioned her mother recently got a new knee, too, and "is doing great."
"This was just, like, the summer of my parental upgrades," Swift joked. "We're just upgrading the parents, making sure that they live to be at least 186 years old. Because they're two of my best friends."
Caring for her parents, Swift said, was "actually one of the most special things that's ever happened to me."
"Spending all that time with them this summer," Swift said. "You have those long talks that you don't have when it's, like, a small, concentrated period of time."
Madeline Mitchell's role covering women and the caregiving economy at USA TODAY is supported by a partnership with Pivotal and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.
Reach Madeline at [e-mail] and @maddiemitch_ on X.