Trigger Warning: This article deals with the topic of eating disorders.
Taylor Swift has edited the music video for her single, ‘Anti-Hero’ which was released last week, following criticisms of fatphobia.
The concept for the video, which was written and directed by Taylor herself explored the singer’s “nightmare scenarios and intrusive thoughts.”
The video for the lead single of her Midnights album sees Taylor’s inner demons anthropomorphised in a horror house.
In one scene, the singer steps on a bathroom scale, and the word “fat” appears instead of numbers, as her “problematic” alter self looks on in disappointment.
This scene in particular ignited backlash when the video clip was first released, with some fans accusing the clip of promoting an “anti-fat” message.
Related: All the hidden meanings behind Taylor Swift’s Midnights, explained
“Taylor Swift’s music video, where she looks down at the scale where it says ‘fat’, is a s****y way to describe her body image struggles,” Shira Ros, an eating disorder therapist wrote on Twitter.
“Fat people don’t need to have it reiterated yet again that it’s everyone’s worst nightmare to look like us.”
“Having an eating disorder doesn’t excuse fatphobia.”
“It isn’t bad to be fat, and her having the scale say ‘fat’ is a radical simplification of eating disorders, especially when fat people have EDs too,” commented another fan.
Now, Taylor Swift has seemingly responded to the criticism, quietly amending the music video on Apple Music, which no longer shows the scale clip.
The original video is still uploaded to Youtube.
Taylor Swift has previously acknowledged her relationship with disordered eating in her documentary, Miss Americana.
Related: Taylor Swift cryptically hints at next album
During the film, she admitted that she’s seen “a picture of me where I feel like I looked like my tummy was too big, or… someone said that I looked pregnant … and that’ll just trigger me to just starve a little bit — just stop eating.”
She further elaborated on her personal experiences during an interview with Variety, where she explained, “my relationship with food was exactly the same psychology that I applied to everything else in my life: if I was given a pat on the head, I registered that as good. If I was given a punishment, I registered that as bad.”
She also went on to explain in the interview how headlines questioning is she was pregnant at the age of 18 had caused fraught body image issues.
If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, help is always available. Call The Butterfly Foundation’s national helpline on 1800 33 4673 or visit their website.
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