But Dad, I love Taylor Swift!
In a recent interview, Meta co-founder Mark Zuckerberg revealed how he quickly dashed his daughter's dreams of one day becoming a pop superstar.
The tech mogul appeared on the “Acquired” podcast earlier this month and revealed the conversation in which he seemingly dashed his youngest son's hopes of becoming a global icon.
“I took my daughter to a Taylor Swift concert, and she said, 'Dad, I want to be like Taylor Swift when I grow up,'” Zuckerberg said. “I said, 'But you can't. You can't do that.'”
The father of three didn't tell podcast hosts Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal why it was “impossible” for his daughter August to become a professional singer at that level, but he said during the conversation that August eventually changed her mind and said she wanted to be herself.
“After thinking about it, my daughter said, 'When I grow up, I want everyone to want to be like August Chan Zuckerberg,'” the father of three said.
Coincidentally, his middle child's name is the same as the song “August” from Swift's Grammy-nominated album “Folklore.”
The Mehta CEO was a fan and even supporter of Swift, even though he didn't want his daughter to become a billionaire tortured poet.
He attended The Eras Tour in Santa Clara in July 2023 with his wife, Priscilla, and their daughters, and posted a photo of himself wearing friendship bracelets and jewelry on his face with the caption, “Life of a girl dad.”
For this iconic concert, he reportedly spent a fortune buying his family a box suite for the show, at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara. It can cost up to $50,000 Accommodates up to 22 people.
His comments about the “Lover” singer on the podcast drew mixed reactions on social media.
“Taylor Swift is certainly a once in 20 years musical genius, but you shouldn't crush dreams so easily,” one user wrote on Reddit.
“He sent his daughter off to the Reputation era, hopefully she can make all the music she wants,” another user wrote.
“I'm sure if the kid is strong enough he'll recover just fine,” someone commented on the social media platform.
Zuckerberg and his wife have three daughters: Maxima, 8; August, 6; and Aureila, 13 months.
The topic came up on the podcast when he was talking about the advice he would give to founders today in 2024. He encouraged people to “do what you care about,” “learn as fast as you can,” and “do what you want to do while learning from the successes and failures of others.”
