Silence Breaker: Taylor Swift Reveals Details About Sexual Assault Trial
Taylor Swift has opened up about her sexual assault trial against ex-radio DJ David Mueller four months after the popstar won the lawsuit.
Time magazine's person of the year for 2017 is not an individual but a collective group of people dubbed "The Silence Breakers."
The magazine has championed this group, which comprises of men and women (mostly women), for having the courage to come forward with sexual assault and sexual harassment claims against prominent men in the industry, including Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
A post shared by TIME (@time) on Dec 6, 2017 at 4:35am PST
Swift is one of the members of this group and features on the magazine's cover alongside actress Ashley Judd, former Uber engineer Susan Fowler, activist Adama Iwu, and strawberry picker Isabel Pascual.
Swift's Groping Trial
The "Look What You Made Me Do" hitmaker has grounds to appear on the coveted cover after all. In 2013, Mueller sexually assaulted Swift by reaching under her skirt and grabbing her bare bottom during a photo-op at an event, which the singer reported to the former DJ's employer.
Following an investigation, Mueller was fired from his job and he then took Swift to court with a defamation lawsuit. In the lawsuit, Mueller claimed that he never laid his hands on her, but she tainted his reputation and cost him his job.
Swift then filed a countersuit, claiming that she was indeed sexually assaulted by Mueller and sought $1 in damages. Swift won the lawsuit in August this year and vowed to donate the awarded damages to a charity that protects women from becoming victims of sexual assault.
Swift Breaks Her Silence
In her interview with Time, Swift has opened up about the trial and how she felt while giving her testimony, which was lauded by many for its straightforwardness and fierceness.
"When I testified, I had already been in court all week and had to watch this man's attorney bully, badger and harass my team including my mother over inane details and ridiculous minutiae, accusing them, and me, of lying," Swift said.
She continued that her mother, Andrea, was so upset after being cross-examined by Mueller's lawyer that she felt physically ill and couldn't make it to court on the day Swift was taking the stand.
"I was angry," she added. "In that moment, I decided to forego any courtroom formalities and just answer the questions the way it happened."
The Grammy-winner said she did not care about the court's formalities and did not feel the need to be polite as Mueller also did not consider them when he groped her and neither did his lawyer when he questioned her mother.
Swift then concluded her interview with a word of advice for fans who find themselves in a similar situation. Read the full interview here.
