Taylor Swift has joked that she sees herself growing old alone surrounded by cats as life in the spotlight makes it so hard to date.

The 25-year-old singer – whose previous boyfriends include One Direction’s Harry Styles and actor Jake Gyllenhaal – told the Daily Telegraph she can’t see herself in a long-term relationship.

Asked to predict where she’ll be in five years’ time, Taylor said: “I’ll be 30. I’ll probably still be single, let’s be honest. No one’s going to sign up for this and everything that goes with it.

(Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
(Andy Kropa/Invision)

“Like, ‘Hi, nice to meet you, want a date? Do you love camera flashes? I hope you do!’ I don’t know what’s going to happen if I’m ever content in a relationship – no idea how that’s going to work. I don’t even know if that’s possible with the life I have.”

She joked in a commentary about herself: “In five years’ time she’ll be so afraid of everything, she doesn’t leave her house. She’s just surrounded by cats. So many cats, they’ve divided themselves up into armies and she wanders around lint-rolling the couch that no one’s going to sit on because she’s afraid to have people over…”

Taylor was recently photographed with Irish singer-songwriter Hozier, but she insisted he is just a friend.

A picture of Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift on stage together
Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift are friends (Evan Agostini/Invision/Press Association Images)

She said: “I just got so freaked out that people were going to say I was dating him. I started thinking, ‘I can’t let this ruin my friendships with dudes.’ I didn’t let it ruin my friendship with Ed [Sheeran] – they always said we were dating and we never were. But sometimes I get really scared.”

Taylor also revealed in the interview that she will never talk about pop rival Katy Perry, 30, about whom she is rumoured to have written the track Bad Blood on her latest album.

Taylor Swift and Katy Perry going out for dinner in London together in 2009 (Chicago/EMPICS)
Taylor Swift and Katy Perry going out for dinner in London together in 2009 (Chicago/EMPICS)

Taylor said: “I’m not giving them anything to write about. I’m not walking up the street with boys, I’m not stumbling out of clubs drunk.

“But I’m never going to talk about her in my interview. It’s not going to happen.”