Taylor Swift – Anna Karenina Linked

Unhappy Families

Tolstoy once wrote : “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” but really… what happy families are those? Certainly none I’ve ever met. My family was amazingly miserable with a slut mother and a half dead workaholic father, we came apart at the seams on a daily basis. And really, deep in thought, I don’t know of one happy family.

I’ve read of one: Vladimir Nabokov’s family seemed happy till his dad got shot dead by a Bolshevik back in the 1920s but on further research, Vladimir’s big brother was gay and his Uncles (two of em) were also gay, one of whom fondled him, so maybe not.

We are all captured by our childhoods, right? and they all more or less sucked. And they are so imported because, as really young kids our  thoughts and feelings leaving indentures on our brains, scars that will affect us for the rest of our lives and I do mean scars because I bet it is all the bad stuff that leaves the biggest impressions.

A couple of years ago I was friends with a guy who used to play with Taylor Swift’s backing band and he told me Taylor was fabulous but her mother was always there and always always very difficult and all this family stuff came to mind after reading this Page Six item the other day (by Emily Smith: and my apologies for stealing the entire item but I don’t feel like paraphrasing):

“Taylor Swift’s mom and dad are being accused of becoming “difficult and controlling stage parents” as they assume total power over her career — even though they have technically separated.

 Sources tell Page Six that Scott and Andrea Swift have edged out numerous senior staff members at their company, 13 Management, as well as agents at CAA and WME. Last month, Taylor’s publicist of nearly seven years, Paula Erickson, resigned after giving 60 days’ notice. Taylor’s business managers, Flood, Bumstead, McCready & McCarthy, also resigned last year. She is currently repped by AEG for touring and IMG.

 Meanwhile, we’re told that Scott and Andrea live separately and don’t see eye to eye.

 One source said: “Taylor’s parents are incredibly difficult to deal with. Their expectations are enormous, and they are very hard to please. They want to pay as little as possible and treat people like s–t, because they think those people are lucky to have the chance to work with a superstar like Taylor.

 “Taylor’s parents think they can do things better, and what makes things complicated is that they no longer live together,” our insider said. “They are not on the same page and don’t even like to be in the same room. Andrea requests that her husband not be present at meetings. Taylor is incredibly smart and professional, but at some point she’s going to need her parents to stop, before it turns into a total Katherine Heigl ‘momager’ situation.”

 Another source adds that the Swifts’ 13 Management has had a revolving door of top staff, managers and department heads. But Taylor has been working with tour manager Robert Allen for years and he is still with her.”

 Taylor’s parents, who married in 1988, have been living separately but did not divorce “because they don’t want to damage Taylor’s career,” according to Star. Taylor, who recently moved to a new pad in Tribeca, is currently recording her fifth album. Reps for 13 Management and Taylor’s label, Big Machine, did not comment. Erickson declined to comment.”

Which leads me back to the beginning. Poor ol’ Taylor, stuck between her warring parents who are druiving her batty and destroying all her business relationships. Families? Meh.