People have asked repeatedly if Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston are aware of how The Glorious Tiddlebanging has blown up in the media. I think they are well-aware. Taylor Swift is especially aware, but I have to think Tom is too. Tom used to be quite active on Twitter, and I’ve always gotten the impression that he knows what gets said about him online. And we all know what Swifty is like. She reads the comments. She reads about herself constantly, and adjusts her behavior accordingly. So Taylor knows that she’s been pouring it on a bit thick with the whole Tiddles thing. So she visited a hospital in Australia. I’m not shading her at all: Taylor has a long history of doing nice things like that, taking time out of her schedule to spend time with sick kids and younger fans and such. But I do think we should see this through the frame of the Tiddlesbanging.
These kids just got a major surprise thanks to a visit from Taylor Swift. The Grammy-winning songstress, who is currently traveling in Australia with new beau Tom Hiddleston, spent Tuesday evening surrounded by children at Lady Cliento Children’s Hospital in South Brisbane. According to social media, the kids were just as happy to see the “Blank Space” star.
“Thank you Taylor Swift for dropping by the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital this afternoon to give our patients and families a special surprise they’ll never forget,” the hospital’s Facebook page read. “They’ll never ‘shake off’ the memories you made tonight.”
The star-studded visit was coordinated by the Starlight Children’s Foundation, a non-profit organization aimed at supporting teenagers through their sicknesses.
No surprise visit from Swift would be complete without a few selfies. “Thank you, Sam, for sharing this great pic of you and Taylor Swift with us,” the hospital captioned a photo of one patient posed with Taylor. “We hear you made quite the impression!”
While Taylor spent four hours at the private visit, Hiddleston headed off to work. The actor is currently filming Thor: Ragnarok, for which he has reprised his role as Loki in the popular franchise.
This visit was really nice – if you go to this Taylor Swift fan-run Twitter, they’ve compiled a lot of social media photos from her visit. It seems like she spent a lot of time at the hospital, and every kid got some special, individual attention from Swifty. I really like that she does this consistently, and for all we can (and do) say about her, she has a charitable heart and she treats her fans and little kids really well.
Meanwhile, Forbes ranked Taylor the highest-paid celebrity of the year. She made $170 million JUST IN THE PAST YEAR. Mostly because of her wildly successful 1989 Tour, which raked in the money. And Swifty out-earned her closest competition (Adele) by about $90 million. What does this all mean? Taylor can afford to buy her Dragonfly boyfriend some new workout clothes, I think.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet, Twitter.
she treats her fans well. she may be immature and petty but i think her heart is in the right place. i find her harmless and goofy. she is also an amazing business woman.
It’s better she does it than not, I applaud her.
However it’s not a selfless act. You can be altruist and still benefit. The better she is to her fans, the more loyal and connected they feel to her and thus the more CD’s they buy (Not a Kristen Stewart fan but she is ALWAY gracious to her Twilight fans but she doesn’t advertise it nor do her fans “spontaneously” post her good deed points on the Internet). Jennifer Gardner does care about kids in hospitals but also plans her visits when she needs to deflect attention or get positive PR.
Also every dollar you donate to charity can be used as a tax write-off which a lot of big companies do. Companies we hate. Don’t get me wrong, it’s better to do it than not. Even crazy and judge-y Wendy Williams has a foundation that donates money and her time to the empowerment of school age girls. Bitchy Charlize Theron has her South African foundation.
Taylor and her team are on point though when it comes to PR and money. She reads EVERYTHING written by her and is very thin-skinned. I think that Washington Post article linked here by Celebitches really burned. Because the Washington post is read by “regular” people who do not follow the tabloids. It outed her as planning out things and repeating the same formula because it works on the masses.
Cheers to her for a game well played!
“every dollar you donate to charity can be used as a tax write-off”
What tax write off do you get for donating 4 hours of your time? Oh, that’s right. Nothing.
Yes, there are a multitude of benefits that come from being charitable, but that doesn’t mean that a person isn’t doing something good when they visit kids with cancer. The easiest route is to tell your business manager to donate to some of the big charities until you get the desired tax write off. If this was just about the selfish benefits, there are MUCH easier ways to go about it.
@Tiffany 🙂 I agree with you and I am surprised anyone is giving Taylor shade for visiting sick kids in the hospital.
@Original TC- What is with your bias against Taylor Swift?
What PR positives do you get from 4 hours of your time? That’s another question that needs to be asked.
@OTC. Agreed. Nothing here is without motive.
4 hours of her time = days of good press. Priceless.
“What tax write off do you get for donating 4 hours of your time? Oh, that’s right. Nothing.”
Donating 4 hours of your time + knowing that info will be posted by fans and picked up by the press for positive PR= More $$$$$$$$$ in Album sales + more money to donate for a tax write-off.
For her young (9-12 year old) fans, I am happy she does it and that those kids believe in her just like we want them to continue to believe that goodness always wins over evil , Santa Claus is real, the tooth fairy is real, Disney really cares about them instead of selling products. I have no problem with it.
For adults who think this is not similar PR and branding that EVERY other celebrity uses I shake my head. My issue is that people are so hypocritical when it comes to Swifty. I hate hypocritical-ness and unfairness. Swifty bashes other stars to make money they call it “harmless”. Swifty contacts paps personally to sell her relationship = just living her life in public. Swifty gets paid back by those she attacks = she’s just a young girl why is that mean person picking on her! She dates a million guys including under-aged boys = she is just a sweet innocent girl who knows nothing about S.E.X. like those other popstar harlots!
If you change the name in the article and put Rihanna or Xtina as the person doing this all the comments will RIGHTLY call it PR. Because Rihanna is apparently “harmful” to society by not being a cute blonde white girl name Taylor.
Just in case you spin it as just about race, it’s not. That’s why I gave the example of Kristen Stewart. She spends endless time with her fans at each event but again she is evil for cheating (and of course when Taylor cheats, it’s not really cheating) her fan’s positive comments are suspiciously never picked up and reported by the press. Yet she continues doing this expecting no positive press coverage.
You don’t need to spend 4 hours of your time to get charity press. My point still stands: if you want positive charity press, there are MUCH easier ways to go about it.
It might make you feel better to try and paint other commenters as hypocritical, but you are just setting up a straw man. I don’t think any of those things about Rhianna, KStew or Christina A. You just want to vent at Taylor, even though she has done nothing offensive here.
@OTC: You are right on the money. Pun intended.
I think this latest over-the-top, way too fast relationship has made some serious dents in her carefully crafted PR facade.
Actually, if you really want to split hairs:
At the risk of being cynical…
most celebrities have corporations and are paid through those corporations. That permits all expenses to be written off. She has a staff of accountants who can turn her time into concrete, billable hours, so do not think that those four hours will not be accounted for on that corporate tax return. They certainly will.
But yes, it is kind of her to give her time to children in need.
@ORIGINAL T.C.
WOW. Quite an extrapolation.
I haven’t been on this site long, but, I haven’t witnessed any of what you said.
Miss Melissa, they do not turn musician’s time into billable hours in a tax return. The corporation (name hiding corps) do not pay the musicians as hourly employees.
It was organised by the Starlight Foundation and they are publicising it. They did it when Angelina Jolie was filming in Brisbane and when Johnny Depp was filming here too. We don’t get very many big name celebrities here so it is very exciting and rare for these kids. I hope Taylor Swift and the other celebrities do benefit from it, it’s a nice thing to do, they made a lot of people happy.
TC – Do you believe a child will buy a Cd based on the fact she spent 4 hours at a hospital? She is a top earner. She doesn’t have to. Maybe just maybe that is something she likes to do. Wow, I just defended Taylor Swift.
I shade Taytay all the time, but she actually does go out and do good. Her time is literally worth thousands of dollars and she is willing to share that with sick fans.
That’s really rare.
Also, to my other favourite mean-girl Martha, what were you saying about millennials an initiative? Taylor’s laughing at that all the way to the bank.
It’s not rare. Plenty of celebrity entertainers and athletes visit hospitals. Taylor doesn’t impress me.
Not rare – based on what metric?
Granted, I haven’t studied famous people visiting hospitals, but my father has been in hospital for about a year now, and in two hospitals in two different countries.
He didn’t get a single visit from even a d-list celebrity. Granted he’d probably be nonplussed by Taylor Swift as a visitor, since she does not play hockey for the Habs.
I really don’t care why she did it, she went. She gave joy to people who are suffering. It’s more than I can say I’ve done with my day.
Do they also surprise people at weddings? Do they accept party invitations from fans? Do they donate thousands to fans’ medical expenses? Did they donate to Keisha’s legal fund, or just tweet support? Do they invite hundreds of fans to their house for listening parties?
Not all celebs do that. Some do variations, but it really isn’t a huge group that gets that up and close with fans. This is pretty typical Swift behavior. I’m not even a fan of hers but the way commenters on this site go nutso with the hypocritical attacks makes me want to defend her.
My God! she has always done this since her career began….go ahead and shade her but your unkind and frankly disquieting s probably won’t register as a blip on the radar of tje childten and families living through hell whose day got a bit brighter because of swift…shou
Good for her, this is nice to see. Its easy to mock her for other stuff but getting out and visiting sick kids shows a caring nature.
She also looks nice in these pics, I get the impression she is genuinely quite caring about kids.
Yeah, I know a lot of celebrities do it but there is something about her cheesiness that seems pretty genuine. Like, the kittens and cookies and Pinterest dorky basic-ness is just who she is. She seems to actually enjoy doing things like this, PR or no. Some celebs look super tortured to be suffering through a charity event.
I like this a lot about Taylor too. Hell, I’d love to see Donald Trump actually give to charity and do good deeds for WHATEVER reasons whatsoever. His motives would be totally cynical and self-serving and may even clinch his pact with the devil, but still, adding any goodness to the world is a good thing in general. By the way, I once worked in fund-raising and the Donald gave a VERY stingy contribution to a good cause. I wasn’t even allowed to speak to his secretary to collect it, but had to speak to his secretary’s secretary. Ridiculous!
I heard she visits hospitals more than is publicized. Did that make sense? I’m trying to say that I read somewhere she often visits hospitals but the visits are not made public.
I love when celebs do charitable work….good job, Taylor!!!
I think she’s sweet and vulnerable, and just a human being despite fame and fortune. I hope her romance with TH lasts. We all deserve love.
Hear, hear. A little positivity towards others is a refreshing change.
I agree with the vulnerable part, for sure. I imagine it will take time for her to get used to the negative comments and articles. She seems to be one of those people who faced few challenges growing into her career, so she probably didn’t have the opportunity to develop resilience. I very much believe she is a product of her environment (family, work, her team) and has maturing to do in her adulthood.
Good for her.
She can also allow him to retire the quilted Polo jacket!
Ugh, the quilted lady jacket! He should burn that thing. I want Taylor to take him shopping for lots of pretty, new things, aka “Pretty Woman” LOL!
No, his wardrobe must stay as repetitive as it ever has, or else the makeover may look too Benniferesque.
It’s great for the kids, but I’d be a LOT more impressed if she did this and nobody but the kids and their families knew about it.
Her PR machine is a force to be reckoned with.
She has a fantastic PR machine, but Taylor does plenty of stuff under the radar. Heard about it all the time when Nashville was her home-base. Hate her if you want and plenty on this site do, but the woman is savvy as hell, works her ass off and absolutely gives a ton back to her fans and various communities. The world would be a better place if there were more people like her.
But it was the kids families the ones who made the visit public. They (and people who were at the hospital) were the ones tweeting pictures and all of that
It’s ALWAYS the kids, families and hospitals that post the pics and advertize that she was there. Do you think she doesn’t plan on them doing it and predict the media will pick it up? Or that they will post videos of her live singing on YouTube? She’s been doing this for like 5years and she ALWAYS gets the media to cover it indirectly through the fans or the hospitals. Applaud her but let’s not pretend this is not a PR device she uses or counts on.
Just like her guests at the 4th of July event “spontaneously” posted pics on their social media in a coordinated fashion. Again see Washington Post article from yesterday. But I guess people will continue to NOT SEE it until an insider from her camp breaks free and dishes. For now they are either family or well paid.
Perhaps she plans on the families posting pics. In fact, I’m positive she plans on them doing that, and that benefits her image. But there are a lot of other ways to benefit one’s image without spending hours in a children’s hospital, which can be a really sad and difficult place to be. Taking time with each child and interacting with them and their parents is more than just aiming for good PR. She could’ve had quick photo-ops and left, and would’ve gotten the same coverage on social media. She could’ve written a hefty check and not visited at all, and that still would’ve gotten good coverage and a nice little image boost.
My point is, while this is clearly good publicity and that obviously comes into play when a celebrity decides to make a visit like this, it’s also clear that Taylor goes above and beyond the minimum requirement to get good publicity, which indicates that she does indeed care to some degree.
Sorry, I can’t muster an ounce of cynicism for this event. It was just really nice of her to do, and the fact that she gave every kid individual attention seems pretty genuine. Any celeb who goes out of their way to make kids feel special—especially sick children—holds a special place in my heart. And they’re actually far and few between.
Agree with KC and if I were in the position of one of those kids, I’d feel pretty sad, if I couldn’t post on social media. It would be nice to feel special for a positive reason for once and hear from excited friends after going through so much! It does take an incredibly strong person to spend quality time with so many people suffering so much. I’m sure it had an affect on Swift too. I admire her for it regardless of the benefit to Taylor herself!
Well said, KC.
Also, this draws attention to Starlight Children’s Foundation.
Well said, K.C.
And she didn’t hesitate to get close and personal with them. I love that about her.
I totally agree with KC. It could have been a half hour or hour visit and still been nice for the kids. Instead, she made it all about them for four hours.
The only way that would have been possible is if she’d refused to take any photos or videos with the kids. She hasn’t posted anything herself, and from what I can tell, she didn’t release any news about the visit.
Looking at the smiles on those kids’ faces…I can’t find any fault with her for this.
But if she refused to take pictures there would be plenty of: “T. S. refuses to take pictures with sick kids”, no way a thing like this could pass under the radar.
Yeah, it would have been worse if she refused pictures. As long as the kids ask for a picture, she should give them one. It’s pretty normal to want a picture with a celebrity that you can show friends and to memorialize the occasion.
I agree with you that this kind of charitable work is most admirable when it goes under the radar. But this actually was under the radar—families shared photos with her on social media, and publications picked up on it.
Yep, one of the family members posted to Facebook that she came in without any photographers, said she would leave if the media came in, and asked that the families wait until she left the hospital before they posted anything to their social media. She also spent a lot of time with each individual kid – it wasn’t just a quick photo op then onto the next one.
Love this!
There is zero criticism warranted for this I also doubt that when an actor visits a hospital in character as the superhero in coordination with their promotional tour for their huge movie anyone bats an eyelash. Sure she’s getting good press but it’s still a good deed. She can be more than one thing you know?
Also, if she does a good deed, doesn’t she deserve/merit the good press?
Act like a bit of an idiot with your new BF, try to manipulate the media with a bunch of (semi)staged pap strolls: get called out for it by the world’s media.
Go to a kids’ hospital, spend way more time there than was necessary, make a lot of really sick kids’ day, give every impression of totally and genuinely enjoying that time: get good press.
Seems fair enough to me.
+ me! This was super nice of her. I love the photo of the pillow she autographed!
Taylor’s PR team is the hardest-working one around. Hope they get paid well.
I love your next song twitter. M16.
Swifty might have issues, but being mean to innocent fans isn’t one of them. Good job.
Her time is worth thousands of dollars is an odd comment to make about the visit. Should anytime I do something nice say my time is worth X number of dollars. If she was doing a hospital visit instead of say performing at a concert, you can look at her visit in terms of opportunity lost. But what did she lose by making this visit? Better yet what did she gain PR wise?
It doesn’t seem that odd to me. A lot of celebrities get paid thousands of dollars to perform at or show up at charity events.
+100.
It is nice that she does this and has done so a few times in the past but at the same time, most people, especially most celebs won’t do certain things unless there is some benefits to it. So you are right about the PR aspect.
Taylor knows very well what the public thinks about her and Tom so I think this visit is part of her tactic to get her fans to SHIFT focus on how ‘sweet’ and charitable she is.
I know most ppl. will not agree with me but that is just my impression of her.
I’d maybe believe that if she didn’t already do a lot of charity stuff for fans pre-TH.
Did you not see the Forbes number? Her time being worth thousands of dollars is just #facts.
Good for her! She does commit to this kind of thing and seems like she actually likes doing it, can’t shade her for that.
Taylor is insufferable, annoying, petty etc. etc. but the one thing she’s probably known the most for is being amazing to her fans. I don’t care for her or her music really (aside from Trouble) but she’s always been devoted and thankful and soo receptive of her fans, especially on tumblr. Nice to see a young person who can remove head from ass and see others who are less fortunate.
I agree. If I were in such a position, I’d do this regularly, just to brighten a stressful situation for young people and their families.
She spent four hours there and looks engaged. Good for her!
I agree with this comment so much. Most of her image is fake, controlled and contrived but I believe she genuinely loves and appreciates her fans. The visit was an amazing thing to do and she made a lot of people happy.
She has done this forever. It’s lovely and it appears so genuine.
+1
+123
Totally agree
170 millions in one year. I can’t even imagine what it would be if I earned 1 million
Even one million would change my life, in that I’d be able to set up a college fund for my beloved daughter, buy a house, ensure I’ll have enough $ to retire, and pay off debts. I also cannot imagine having the kinds of money celebrities have.
This is why I will always give TS a pass..she has been consistently very good to her fans, not just when she needs some good PR
At the end of the day, what matters is how the patients feel- and clearly, they enjoyed their time with Taylor. Goodness, who remembers the Chrises visiting the children’s hospitals dressed as Starlord and Capt America?? I tear up thinking about it. I as cynical as they come, but if it brings joy to sick children, I could care less what the motives are! (for the record, I think most, if not all, celebs do this out of the goodness of their hearts. Children’s hospitals can be gut-wrenching places. My hat’s off to them.)
This is really nice. I have nothing against her. Maybe because I never listen to her music because I like different type of music (I don’t know how to express myself in english LOL) but I know about her as much as I read from the sites like this one. And I still don’t understand the hate she gets. She seems like decent person. She loves to share her life on instagram (like so many famous people). I still can’t find nothing against her… or against him …
I’m happy for these kids that they got a little bit happiness today, but there is no way she didn’t also do this to try and get some positive publicity after weeks of everyone calling her out for this over the top fauxmance. There are no selfless good deeds.
I don’t believe there are no selfless good deeds. There are celebrities who do things without expecting anything in return. Prince for example donated money to various charities and hardly anybody knew until after he died. There’s also the possibility he did it to make himself feel good but there’s nothing wrong with that.
There are PLENTY of selfless good deeds being done out there.
she didn’t do this for the first time ever. Taylor has always done hospital visits. a 4 hour visit and spending time with each child individually is a bit much for just wanting publicity. it can be both things, a good deed and looking for good feed back.
your remark about there being no selfless good deeds is very cynical. i really hope that is not your true view of the world.
If you really feel that way, I hope you are able to witness some random acts of kindness in your life. There are a lot of good people in the world who do things just because it’s the nice thing to do.
But why do you know that she has “always” done hospital visits? Because the pics get posted and there are stories written. I realize it’s a cynical view- but I’d rather be cynical and aware than walk around on a cloud of rainbow butterflies and think that everything that I read or see is real and genuine, especially when it comes to celebrities.
This was really sweet of her. It reminds me of this video, where she’s so good with the little boy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-xNBLOLH9Y
wow that was really sweet!
This is so very lovely. She has such a solid track record about being wonderful to her fans, and I find that really admirable in any famous person. There are plenty of successful celebrities who do very little for fans, and I just don’t get that mentality of not being grateful to those who have supported your work.
If she only wanted good PR, she could’ve written a big check to the hospital and publicized it. Obviously visiting sick children gets a celebrity good publicity, but it kinda breaks my heart to view something like this through a more cynical lens. She took time out of her day to go put smiles on these kids’ faces. The children and their parents will never forget that she spent quality time with them. Hospitals are dismal places. Any sunlight is welcome, and she genuinely seemed to care about making every kid she visited feel special. Good on her.
Her generosity and kindness to others is her best trait. Good job.
Phoebe, I believe mixed motives are okay, as long as you’re doing the right thing. As Billy Idol sang in “White Wedding,” “There is nothing pure in this world.”
Is Blank Space (sorry: too lazy to Google) the title of one of her songs?
If so, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Oh good grief, how unfortunate.
Nice to visit sick kids, notwithstanding.
Good for her, this is a lovely thing to do! Am sure she made their day. Though you can be charitable and lovely with fans and a still remain a nutcase in private. See Tom cruise and Johnny depp. Disclaimer: i am not saying she’s as bad as them. Humans are multifaceted is what I am saying. Nobody is all good or all bad.
Like others, I don’t care about the motive. ..she made sick kids happy. Good for her and them.
Nect time i’m in hospital and the nurse comes to check on me i’m going to ask them when i’m getting my celebrity visit.
Wonderful thing to do. Spending hours with very sick children has got to be heart-wrenching, and there is Taylor with a big smile on her face, spending time with each child and cheering them up. AND giving credit to the doctors and nurses for doing very difficult jobs. Good for her.
The DM’s article about her new re-rack is still the top story about her. This story is buried on the sidebar.
She needed to have brought them gifts or baked them cookies. There’s always tomorrow, Tay. Get that PR team working!
I don’t know who is worse, Swift’s fans or you.
Worse? The refund gap on her new bewbs – that’s the worst. And don’t pretend you’re not a fan. Nice try.
You just proved my point. You’re worse but nice try.
She has her Mother Theresa blue on.
Mother Theresa didn’t have the smug face.
Ladyloo, did you have a crush on Tom Hiddles or something?
Anyway, don’t be so naive regarding Mother Teresa. She epitomized one who ruthlessly and selfishly played to the press for her own ego and power.
An interesting read on the real woman and her machinations, “The Missionary Position” by Hitchens.
Hudson Girl, interesting comparison then.
Pathetic.
If my child was in the hospital, I’d be ok with Taylor visiting and using it for good PR because of the joy it brings to the the kiddos. It won’t drown out the bad press she’s getting in the meantime and I like seeing smiles on the faces of kids who are hurting.
So long as the photos are being taken by the parents or the kids and posted on social media by them, great.
I agree. As long as the kid wants the picture taken and posted, it’s totally ok with me.
It sounds like her team didn’t publicize the visit, so the publicity that it did receive was pretty much inevitable.
Her bodyguards keep track of the social media on her. See the Rolling Stone cover/interview with her from a couple years ago. She takes the interviewer to Central Park during the day to give them a taste of being Taylor In Public. The bodyguards watch how fast her location is trending so they know when to get her outta there. Crazy right?
Wow, that’s actually fascinating. Being a bodyguard in the age of social media adds additional job responsibilities, it would seem.
This is the country music side of TS showing, and also a huge part of why/how Leann Rimes sunk herself.
Country artists have it drilled into them to treat their fans well. Even the biggest artists do visits, signings, events, and work hard to portray themselves as fan-friendly to a fault. They want to be seen as approachable, relatable, and decent.
Taylor does, Leann didn’t. Both got their starts young in country. See the difference?
I have often thought this is a big part of Swift’s brand of professionalism (her country music origins, at a young age). It’s just drilled into them, you CANNOT disappoint the folks, ever.
So very true. Country music has always had a down home, family style culture where fans are made to feel like friends. I remember the annual Fan Fair in Nashville which is a big deal to country music fans who spend a lot of $$ to come out to it each year.
That was actually one of the things the older one’s father claimed was a problem when he countersued her (which is another point in Taylor’s column — she didn’t sue her management or her record company by age 20). He realized you have to keep those fans happy, and ignoring them in favor of blowing money and chasing guys won’t work.
I am most likely one of the few males who reads this site but I started a few years ago as a way of having some light reading at lunch time. I’ve never commented before but some of the remarks on this touched a nerve.
For those criticizing Ms. Swift, I have a rhetorical question.
Have you ever spent time at a Children’s Hospital?
Of course you haven’t. If you had, you would be unable to criticize anyone who gives TIME to the children. When you are in a hospital, all you have is time. It’s difficult enough for adults. For children, it is especially difficult. My son works for a Children’s Hospital. The continuing problem these facilities face is staff burnout because treating sick and dying children is something which very few are able to do year after year.
So when volunteers come in and read to kids or play games with them or do something to make the day go a little faster for the kids, it helps EVERYBODY in that hospital.
Want to feel free to criticize any celebrity who visits sick children?
Go spend 4 hours volunteering at a Children’s Hospital.
If you can STILL criticize a celebrity who does it after doing it yourself … I’d have to wonder about your humanity.
Peace
Beautifully written, thank you.
Wonderful post PolAgnostic!
Thank you so much for posting. x
I’m called a Taylor Swift critic and I’m glad you posted this because I DO volunteer 2 days a week (4 hours/shift is standard) at a local children’s hospital. We have volunteers like me taking shifts around the clock 24/7, 365 days out of a year. And no, volunteering for me and others is actually not sad but greatly rewarding. You get to interact with some wonderful children who just happen to have an illness. Children being children still want to play, laugh and be held. It doesn’t feel like work at all and personally I think I benefit more being around them than reverse. I love their fighting spirit. I do it without need for a pat on the back, social media shut-outs, or album sales. Many, many regular people do this.
The staff is over-worked but greatful and nice to volunteers. Parents also get a break and an adult to interact with. I think those Taylor stans going on about the gloominess of children’s hospitals are the ones who have never volunteered at one. It sucks to be sick and heart-breaking for the parents but as a volunteer you feel so great just helping to feed the kids or get coffee for the parents. You can’t wait to go back!
And you AND all the regular people AND Taylor Swift ALL deserve kudos. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.
You all deserve respect for giving.
As someone who was once a child who frequented children’s hospitals due to sickness, I give you, Taylor, and anyone else who takes time to make those kids smile a big round of applause. Thank you.
Children’s hospitals aren’t necessarily gloomy, because you’re right—those kids fight with everything they have, and often have the brightest spirits imaginable. But even for the most positive of families, hospitals can be very stressful and a bit of a bummer when you’re holed up there all the time, constantly being poked and prodded or watching your child go through it. Any relief, from regular volunteers to pop stars with some time on their hands, is so welcome and so appreciated by children and parents. So I think anyone who takes time to do this is absolutely fantastic.
PR or not she’s making sick children happy. She gets my respect for that.
She spent more time at that hospital than Kate and William in a month of events combined and Taylor isn’t funded by tax payers. It’s probably linked to PR but the outcome was positive for the children.
This was win-win for both parties. The kids don´t care if this was really genuine act or not. I don´t think she´s a bad person but still this is another good PR reference for her long CV and she´s well aware of that. I´m not following her carrier or other activities but did she visit a normal hospital or geriatrics or is her charity work somehow specialized? Just asking…
PR or not, it’s the celebrity’s choice what they do with their time. I know a teen whose Make a Wish was to meet a VERY VERY popular singer whilst she was on tour. Her mum was told the singer “doesn’t want to meet any sick kids” during her time here. Taylor would have brought a smile to all she met in that hospital – can’t snark on her for that.
The ‘very, very popular singer’ sounds like someone who deserves to be a flash in the pan. That request is such a very small thing to do that could mean a great deal to a suffering child.
I’m surprised they answered honestly. I’d expect some sort of “no time” reply. Because this sounds awful.
Considering who the singer is, I was shocked too by the Foundation’s response to my friend.
Anyone who has been to a children’s hospital knows this is an emotionally jarring, challenging experience. It’s the saddest of the sad. You walk out a different person, it’s hard to return to normal, knowing what those poor kids are going through. Words cannot explain the pain, the suffering, the upbeat sweet souls….omg I’m tearing up just remembering my experience….
God bless you Tay Tay.
Hillary Clinton Derangement Syndrome is a thing. Evidently so is Taylor Swift Derangement Syndrome. Good lord.
YES!!!
Taylor did it all backwards. She failed to do a few years of drugs as a teen….experiment with her sexuality then marry some dudes…wear vials of blood around her neck…publicly French kiss her brother and then have an affair with a married man BEFORE she chose to do nice things like visit kids who have cancer. She is horrid.
This is why as annoying as she is, I just can’t hate her. She has done so much for Childhood cancer with the proceeds of her song ‘Ronan’ going to fight childhood cancer as well countless other charities. Gotta respect her for that.