Lorde apologizes for 'insensitively' comparing famous friend to autoimmune disease

Lorde has apologized after comparing her friendship with other famous people to being pals with someone suffering from an autoimmune disease.

The Royals singer was speaking to Britain's The Guardian newspaper when she used the analogy to explain how she maintains her friendships with other people in the public eye.

"It’s like having a friend with very specific allergies. There are certain places you can’t go together. Certain things you can’t do," she told the publication.

"There are these different sets of considerations within the friendship... It’s like having a friend with an autoimmune disease."

Her remarks led to hundreds of fans slamming her online, with many referencing the fact that Taylor is close pals with singer Selena Gomez, who suffers from the autoimmune disease lupus.

"I wonder how @selenagomez feels about this. What an incredibly ignorant analogy to make @lorde," Twitter user, and editor of Australian website SBS Sexuality, Stephanie Marie Anderson wrote.

While Lorde denied she had been talking directly about Taylor in the interview, she later took to Twitter to apologize for the insensitive remark.

In response to Stephanie's criticism, Lorde wrote: "Didn't mention taylor, but regardless, i f**ked up & that was really insensitive. i'm sorry." She concluded her apology with a rose emoji.

Despite Lorde not referencing Taylor by name, many fans assumed she was talking about the Shake It Off star in the Guardian interview because she's arguably her most famous friend.

When Lorde, real name Ella Yelich-O’Connor, turned 20 last November (16), Taylor took it upon herself to throw her pal a party in New York.

Following the star-studded bash, Lorde shared a snap of herself, Taylor and model Karlie Kloss on her Instagram page, writing: "Had the best birthday party I’ve ever had tonight surrounded by my nyc family. all organized by tay who is as she says ‘a mom with no kids’. i am ur kid and u love me so hard i could burst. here’s to our 3 magic years of best friendship and more moments like this squished between angels."