Katy Perry: Taylor Swift's attacks on 'my character' are 'so messed up'

June 9 (UPI) -- Katy Perry says fellow singer Taylor Swift is trying to "assassinate" her character.

The 32-year-old pop star explained in an interview with NME published Friday why she addressed her longtime feud with Swift on "Carpool Karaoke" with James Corden.

"No one has asked me about my side of the story, and there are three sides of every story: one, two and the truth," Perry told the magazine.

"I mean, I'm not Buddha -- things irritate me," she said of calling out Swift. "I wish that I could turn the other cheek every single time, but I'm also not a pushover, you know? Especially when someone tries to assassinate my character with little girls. That's so messed up!"

Perry confirmed on a Late Late Show "Carpool Karaoke" special in May that her beef with Swift began over backup dancers. She claimed Swift wrote the song "Bad Blood" after three dancers left Swift to work with her.

"I tried to talk to [Taylor] about it, and she wouldn't speak to me," the star said.

"I do the right thing anytime that it feels like a fumble. It was a full shutdown and then she writes a song about me," she added. I was like, 'Okay. Cool, cool, cool. That's how you want to deal with it?'"

Perry previously denied her new song "Swish Swish" is a direct response to "Bad Blood," although she described the track as a "middle finger" in the NME interview. The song appears on her new album, Witness, which dropped Friday.