Why Taylor Swift Fans Are Devastated Over Ethel Kennedy's Death

Taylor Swift fans are grieving the loss of Ethel Kennedy.

The political figure was once a source of inspiration for Swift's music. The 14-time Grammy Award winner's song "Starlight," released on her album Red in 2012, is about Ethel's relationship with her late husband, Robert F. Kennedy.

Ahead of the release of Red, Swift, 34, spoke to The Wall Street Journal about how the Kennedys inspired the song.

The unexpected relationship started when Swift discovered some old photographs. "I get a lot of style inspiration from the 1960s, so I'll go and look at black and white pictures, and look at [photos from the] '50s and '60s, and I came across this picture of these two kids dancing at a dance," the singer-songwriter explained. "It immediately made me think of like how much fun they must have had that night. It was back in the late '40s."

The pop star then realized the couple in the photo were none other than the Kennedys. "I ended up reading underneath that it was Ethel Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. And they were like 17. So I just kind of wrote that song from that place, not really knowing how they met or anything like that," Swift told the outlet.

The starlet also shared that she met Ethel's youngest child at one of her concerts. "Her daughter Rory ended up coming to a show a couple weeks later and I told her about the song and she was like, you have to meet my mom. She would love to meet you. So that was kind of what that song was about," the musician remarked.

Swifties took to X (formerly Twitter) to acknowledge Swift's connection with Ethel.

"rip ethel kennedy, thank u for being taylor swift's muse," one person commented.

"ethel kennedy passed away? somebody check on 2012 taylor swift," a fan posted on the app.

"Listening to Starlight (Taylor's Version) for Ethel Kennedy today," another fan shared.

The Emmy Award winner re-recorded "Starlight" as part of her release of Red (Taylor's Version).

Swift and Ethel met in 2012 and shared nothing but kind words about each other when speaking publicly about their friendship. The superstar even briefly dated Ethel's grandson, Connor Kennedy, in the summer of 2012.

Ethel passed away on Thursday, October 10, at 96 years old. Her daughter Kerry posted a statement about the loss of her beloved mother on social media, noting her mother passed due to "complications related to a stroke suffered last week."