Taylor Swift‘s triumphant appearance on her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s podcast New Heights took a somber turn as she shared a health update on her father Scott.
The 35-year-old pop superstar told Travis and his brother Jason Kelce that her father had an ‘interesting summer’ after undergoing an ‘intense’ quintuple bypass surgery.
Later in the podcast, she also shared that her mother Andrea — who was diagnosed with cancer in 2015 and was later revealed in 2020 to have developed a brain tumor — had gotten her knee replaced recently.
Taylor said it was a shock that her father needed such a major procedure, as she said he had had a ‘perfect EKG’ and ‘healthy physicals’ each year leading up to the surgery in July.
The podcast aired live on Wednesday, shortly before Taylor delighted her fans by unveiling the artwork for her new album The Life Of A Showgirl, which she announced after midnight on Tuesday in an advance clip from the podcast.
Scott’s health was revealed to be far more dire than he or his family realized when he had a resting stress test this year, which revealed ‘five hard blockages in his heart.’
Taylor Swift’s triumphant appearance on her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s podcast took a somber turn as she shared a health update on her father Scott after he underwent ‘intense’ heart surgery; seen together in 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee
She told Travis’ New Heights co-host Jason Kelce that it was a shock that her father needed the major procedure, as he had had a ‘perfect EKG’ and ‘healthy physicals’ each year leading up to the surgery in July
Taylor said that now her father tells all his friends to get the same resting stress test, ‘because that’s what’s actually preventative.’
Taylor added that people who learn that they’re suffering from blockages earlier may be able to have less invasive stents put in.
By contrast, bypass surgery usually takes the form of open-heart surgery, an extremely invasive procedure in which the breast bone can be cut in order to spread the ribs apart to access the heart, according to the Mayo Clinic.
The surgery is used to repair damage from coronary artery disease, in which the arteries in the heart become partially or completely blocked by plaques, which deprives the heart of oxygen and can lead to heart attacks.
Medications are used to stop the heart temporarily while a machine helps blood and oxygen flow to the rest of the body during the operation.
Healthy, unblocked blood vessels, usually taken from inside the chest or the lower leg, are then grafted to allow blood to bypass the blocked portions of arteries. Recovery from the procedure can take anywhere from 6 to 12 weeks.
The Reputation singer said doctors impressed the seriousness of the procedure on her father, telling him, ‘we’ve got to do this, like, tomorrow.’
According to Taylor, her dad’s doctors were surprised that he was even able to walk in without showing any obvious distress considering the degree to which the arteries in his heart were blocked.
Scott’s health was revealed to be far more dire than he or his family realized when he had a resting stress test this year, which revealed ‘five hard blockages in his heart’; pictured in 2015 in Arlington, Texas
Taylor said her dad’s doctors were amazed that he was even still walking with such severe blockages, and they said he needed surgery ‘like, tomorrow’; pictured in October in Kansas City, Missouri
As he prepared for the surgery on short notice, Scott told Taylor and her brother Austin that they didn’t need to rush to be with him because they were busy with their own lives, even though she planned to drop everything to support him.
‘He was being the brave dad, the strong dad, you know,’ Travis added.
Taylor recalled finding it ridiculous how much her father tried to downplay the seriousness of his condition.
‘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 surgery. That’s wild. You’re just saying stuff now. That doesn’t mean anything to me.”‘
Taylor said she promised her father she wouldn’t make a fuss and fly to be with him, but it was all a fib, and he woke up surrounded by her, her brother, their mother Andrea and his best friend.
She recounted how Scott was loopy in his first 15 minutes awake and turned into a comedian, which impressed her, as she thought he was usually pretty funny even when he wasn’t drugged up from anesthesia.
The Eras Tour singer recalled how her family told him in shock that he had had a quintuple bypass, as they didn’t know how many arteries were blocked before he went into surgery.
Despite the seriousness of the surgery, Scott told Taylor and her brother Austin not to worry about rushing to be with him because they were busy with their own lives. ‘He was being the brave dad, the strong dad, you know,’ Travis added
Taylor joked about how the parent–child dynamic had flipped, as she now needed to confiscate her dad’s phone because he stayed up late FaceTiming his friends from his hospital bed instead of getting the rest he needed; seen with Donna Kelce (L) in November in Kansas City
Taylor did her best impression of her dad’s groggy post-surgery response with a croaking voice: ‘Well, you see, I come from a very competitive family.’
Scott was apparently so out of it that he tried to give the doctors and nurses around him some of Taylor’s guitar picks just after he woke up from surgery — a standard treat that he carries with him for fans — except that he wasn’t wearing pants and didn’t have any pockets in his surgical gown to hold the picks.
In the early days of his recovery, she realized that the parent–child dynamic had flipped, and now she was one of her father’s caregivers.
She smiled as she recalled how her parents used to scold her for staying up late to talk to her friend Abigail on the phone when she should have been sleeping, but now her brother was begging her to take her father’s phone because he had been FaceTiming his friends all night from his hospital bed instead of getting some much-needed sleep and rest
‘That’s, like, one of the main things you need,’ Travis reiterated.
Taylor recounted a comical scene in which she, Austin and their mother all refused to be the one to take his phone and possibly earn his ire.
The Folklore singer added that it was ‘surreal’ that her father used to build her cribs and play sets, but now it was her turn to build ‘his shower chair and his walker’ and his adjustable bed.
Because Scott couldn’t initially walk on his own, Taylor said she essentially moved in with her father for the summer and had to get him a harness to ‘walk’ him.
Taylor revealed later in the podcast that her mother Andrea (seen here with Scott and Selena Gomez in 2019 in LA) recently got her knee replaced
Andrea was diagnosed with cancer in 2015. It went into remission, but Taylor revealed it had returned in 2019. In 2020, she said doctors had discovered her mother had a brain tumor. She also revealed that Scott was at one time diagnosed with cancer; seen in 2013 in Las Vegas
Travis then jumped in to say her father was ‘full of life’ and ‘appreciative that he caught it.’
Later in the podcast, Taylor revealed that her father wasn’t the only one with major health news, as her mother ‘just got a new knee.’
‘She’s doing great. She’s scampering around,’ she said, before correcting herself. ‘We’re not quite at scampering yet, but she’s doing great.’
Travis added, ‘She’s up and moving around.’
Taylor notably didn’t share any updates on her mother’s previous cancer diagnosis.
It was reported in 2015 that Andrea had been diagnosed with an unspecified cancer, though it later went into remission.
But Taylor revealed in a 2019 essay for Elle that her mother’s cancer had returned, and in 2020 she said doctors had since discovered that Andrea had developed a brain tumor.
Since then, the superstar singer has kept her mother’s cancer battle behind the scenes. Although there haven’t been additional updates, fans took it to be a positive sign that Andrea was such a regular presence on her daughter’s whirlwind Eras Tour.
After saying she basically moved in with her parents over the summer, Taylor said she fell in love with the ‘long talks’ they could have, which weren’t a part of her life once she began to only see her parents in short, concentrated bursts
Later in the podcast, Taylor went on to dub the last few months ‘the summer of my parental upgrades.’
‘We’re just upgrading the parents, making sure they live to be at least 186 years old, because they’re two of my best friends and I just adore them,’ she said.
The songstress started to sound emotional again as she gushed about how much she appreciated spending so much time with her parents this summer.
She said she came to appreciate the ‘long talks’ that they would have after living together again for an extended period, which wasn’t something she was used to happening when she would only see her parents for short, concentrated periods.
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