Taylor Swift Had Nightmares for Weeks After Justin Bieber Punk’d Her 

In 2012, Justin Bieber played an elaborate prank on Taylor Swift for the show Punk’d. Swift said that when she was in her early twenties, she had a near-constant fear that she’d do something that would land her in trouble. Bieber’s prank appeared to put her in serious trouble, and she was visibly terrified on the show. Even after she learned it was a prank, Swift said she worried she’d somehow end up behind bars.

Taylor Swift said she was in a state of terror after Justin Bieber ‘Punk’d’ Her

In 2012, Bieber convinced a reluctant Swift to shoot fireworks off a balcony. The prank convinced her she’d accidentally set fire to a boat, thus ruining a wedding. She was visibly shaken by the prank, and she admitted she still felt rattled in the following weeks.

“You know I had serious nightmares where I’d wake up in the middle of the night for, like, three weeks after that? I really thought that was it for me,” she told Rolling Stone in 2012. “I was thinking, ‘Justin is 17, so he’s going to juvie, but I’m going to big-girl prison.’”

Swift described herself as someone who always played by the rules, and the thought of landing in legal trouble terrified her. She said it was one of her biggest fears.

“I have a lot of anxieties that end in me being put into a police car,” she said. “I am so, like, rules, and not getting into accidents.”

Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber never had a particularly friendly relationship

Swift and Bieber’s relationship has since soured, though not because of the nerve-wracking prank. She is close friends with Selena Gomez, and Bieber’s relationship with her did not win him any favors with Swift.

In 2019, their relationship grew more fraught when Bieber posted a picture of himself FaceTiming Scooter Braun and Kanye West with the caption “Taylor swift what up.” Swift was in a lengthy feud with West over his song “Famous,” and Braun was in control of her masters. 

Swift called Bieber out for the post, prompting him to apologize. Still, he defended Braun, whom Swift had described as a bully.

“Scooter has had your back since the days you graciously let me open up for you.!” he wrote in an Instagram post. “As the years have passed we haven’t crossed paths and gotten to communicate our differences, hurts or frustrations. So for you to take it to social media and get people to hate on scooter isn’t fair. What were you trying to accomplish by posting that blog? seems to me like it was to get sympathy u also knew that in posting that your fans would go and bully scooter.”

Kanye West spread an unsubstantiated rumor about them

Swift and Bieber have once again been linked in the press following social media activity by West. This year, West blamed Swift for the fact that he hasn’t played a Super Bowl halftime show. He also claimed that Swift had sexual intercourse with Bieber and Harry Styles at the same time. 

Swift is reportedly considering legal action against West for the posts.