Taylor Swift believes in fairytale love

Taylor Swift believes in fairytale love.

The 23-year-old singer - who is dating One Direction's notorious womaniser Harry Styles - says her optimistic vision of the world has been influenced by the story book romances she used to devour as a lonely teenager, and she is often left disappointed when the reality doesn't match up.

She sighed, "It can be heartbreaking when you find out that your fairytale image of the world doesn't match the reality. I used to read fairytales when I was young and I grew up with such a vivid imagination, and all that has fuelled this little world of mine.

"I was pretty isolated in school. I had no place really to turn except inwards. We all want to believe in the ideal, even though we discover through bad relationships that it's a difficult thing to find."

The country singer admitted that after a string of failed relationships - including with Conor Kennedy, Jake Gyllenhaal and John Mayer - she has developed a more "cynical" approach to love and learnt to prepare herself for inevitable heartbreak.

Taylor said, "I think you need to believe in the fairy tale otherwise you become cynical and close yourself off to love because you stop trusting those incredible feelings that come over you at the beginning.

"But as you grow older, you learn to try to balance that faith in the ideal with the practical knowledge it can be very tough and heartbreaking when things don't work out."