Taylor Swift breaks down while opening up about the Southport attack for the first time

In a gut-wrenching new documentary, global superstar Taylor Swift addressed the stabbing of three young fans at a dance workshop in Southport, Merseyside for the very first time.

Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Bebe King, six, were attending a class themed to the singer's music in July 2024, when 18-year-old Axel Rudakubana burst in yielding a knife.

As well as killing the three girls, he also seriously injured a number of other children and adults in the savage attack. Rudakubana was later charged with three counts of murder and ten counts of attempted murder.

Swift has now opened up about the brutal killings this week for the first time as part of her new Disney+ documentary The End of an Era, the first two episodes of which landed today (12 Dec).

Three children were murdered in Southport (PETER POWELL/AFP via Getty Images)

The programme includes backstage footage from the star's sell-out Eras tour, showing her reflecting on the incident. It also shows that she met with a number of the survivors of the attack in the weeks that followed, hours before heading on stage to perform a three-hour gig.

"We’ve had a series of very violent, scary things happen to the tour," the 35-year-old tearily tells viewers. "There was this horrible attack in Liverpool at this Taylor Swift-themed dance party. And it was little kids that…"

Swift is then seen breaking down in tears, whispering to the camera.

"I have a hard time explaining it," she admits. "I’m gonna meet some of these families tonight and... put on a pop concert, you know?"

Wiping away her tears, the 'Love Story' hit-maker added: "It’s gonna be fine, because I’m not gonna do this [cry].

The singer became emotional discussing the incident (Disney+)

"I’m gonna be smiling, so any of this gets out of the way before you go onstage and lock it off. Three-and-a-half hours, they don’t have to worry about you."

In one clip, it cuts to Taylor meeting with her mum and manager Andrea after chatting to survivors of the Southport attack her Wembley show, breaking down in tears as they returned to her dressing room.

"I know you helped them," Andrea explains. "I know it doesn’t seem like it but I know you helped them."

Swift also alluded to being forced to cancel three of her Vienna, Austria shows last year over a further terror threat.

"I'm trying to calm down. I'm having a very physical reaction to my nerves," she confesses. "My hands are shaking. It's weird I just have to get this first show over with."

Swift met with the victims' families before her shows (Graham Denholm/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)

Swift went on to note: "From a mental standpoint, I just do live in a reality that’s very unreal, a lot of the time.

"But it’s my job to kind of be able to handle all of these feelings and then perk up immediately and perform. That’s just the way it’s got to be."