Importance Score: 65 / 100 🔴
A new documentary has unveiled the chilling correspondence that Taylor Swift received from a stalker before his incarceration. The Taylor Swift stalker case highlights the severe impact of obsessive behavior, as revealed through the letters detailed in Investigation Discovery’s “Hollywood Demons” series. This incident underscores the importance of addressing mental health issues and the potential dangers faced by public figures.
Disturbing Letters to Taylor Swift Revealed
In 2018, singer Taylor Swift, then 35, became the target of Eric Swarbrick, who professed to be her “soulmate.” He penned approximately 40 letters to her, which progressively became menacing and unsettling.
Details From ‘Stalking the Stars’ Documentary
In the most recent installment of Investigation Discovery’s “Hollywood Demons: Stalking the Stars,” Eric’s brother, Matthew Swarbrick, disclosed the content of these letters while expressing regret that his brother did not receive psychiatric assistance sooner.
- Matthew recounted, “The initial letter wasn’t threatening, just peculiar.”
- He further added, “However, a few months later, one of his letters stated, ‘I have one goal in mind, to push Taylor to kill herself for knowingly abandoning me to my mother.'”
Escalating Threats and Direct Deliveries
Eric began hand-delivering the letters to Taylor’s record company, Big Machine Label Group, in January 2018, petitioning CEO Scott Borchetta to facilitate an introduction to the artist.
- Over time, the letters intensified in violence and menace.
- On three occasions, Eric drove to Nashville to deliver them personally.
Specific Threats Against the Singer
One note, directed at the label, ominously declared: “I’ll be the cultural sword that runs through her heart.” Another stated, “Give her my letters or I’m gonna kill myself, and I’m also gonna kill her by the way.”
Brother’s Sorrow and Early Life
Matthew admitted he was unaware of his brother’s visits to Taylor’s office and the extent of the letters. He suggested that isolation during Eric’s college years might have contributed to the stalking behavior.
“Growing up, Eric spent a lot of time with friends,” he remembered. “In high school, he was popular, he led worship, he played guitar, he was very outgoing. I didn’t see any signs at all. There was nothing that was a red flag.
“But then Eric started college, he didn’t know a lot of people and I felt like he spent more time by himself and some of the isolation eventually got to him.
“When he was 25 and looking at graduating college, Eric sent a series of tweets. The tweets referenced a soulmate, it did not reference anybody in particular, but it was not something a normal person would write.
“It basically referenced being a prophet of God on the verge of becoming the antichrist and I remember feeling very desperate because we knew he needed help, and we had absolutely no idea what we could do.”
Guilty Plea and Sentencing
Matthew voiced his deep concern regarding his brother’s mental state and his helplessness in finding suitable assistance.
“I remember wishing there was a hotline that I could call and really just being helpless and not knowing what to do was the worst part,” he expressed regretfully
Eric entered a guilty plea for interstate stalking and transmitting interstate communications with the intent to threaten, resulting in a 30-month prison sentence followed by mandated care.
Aftermath and Recovery
Reflecting on his brother’s plight, Matthew lamented, “It was sad. It was depressing. There are some people who need punishment and some people who need treatment, and I certainly wish he was taken to a mental health hospital earlier than they did.”
With support from mental health professionals, Eric has started to rehabilitate his life. “After prison, he was seeing a psychiatrist and slowly he was starting to become his old self in a lot of ways,” Matthew disclosed.
Eric’s initial arrest occurred in 2018 in Nashville for trespassing on the record label’s property. Following his release, he persisted in sending communications to the label, articulating desires to rape and murder the singer, according to authorities. Police reported that Eric also threatened suicide in front of the label’s employees.
Taylor Swift’s Response
Taylor Swift has spoken candidly about the fear engendered by Eric’s actions. “My fear of violence has continued into my personal life,” she penned in Elle in 2019.
“I carry QuikClot army grade bandage dressing, which is for gunshot or stab wounds… you get enough stalkers trying to break into your house and you kind of start prepping for bad things.”