Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift? Here’s what we know about Chiefs player’s personal life
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is in the news this week — and not just for his football talents or an update on his knee injury.
The Messenger recently reported that Kelce and singer Taylor Swift have been “quietly hanging out,” two months after Kelce tried to give Swift a friendship bracelet with his number on it (cellphone, not the 87 he wears on game days).
In August, Kelce joined “Inside Training Camp Live” on the NFL Network and host Andrew Siciliano asked about his attempt to meet Swift before one of her shows at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
“I said what I said and I meant what I said when I said it,” Kelce responded. “It is what it is. I’m not going to talk about my personal life. I know what you writers want to hear. You want to hear more about that, and I’m not going to give you anything.”
While Kelce said he wasn’t going to talk about his personal life, a lot of it has been revealed in the past. Here’s what we know so far.
Catching Kelce
In 2016, the tight end had his own reality dating show called “Catching Kelce.” The premise: 50 women — one from each state in the U.S. — competed to win his heart as he looked for a long-term lover.
Kelce and Maya Benberry, the Kentucky woman he chose on the show, reportedly split before it aired. He told The Pivot football podcast in January that “she shares a lot of the same personality traits that my ex carried.”
The Star talked to other contestants on the show, who still considered Kelce a catch.
Lauren Schwab Donahue, who was the Missouri representative on the show, said it felt like she was walking toward her best friend when she first met him on the 50-yard-line at a football stadium in Los Angeles.
Kara Tolbert, who was the Kansas representative, said that anytime the Chiefs start doing well, she has friends who make comments about her not catching Kelce.
Kelce said he doesn’t regret doing the show, but has sworn off doing any more reality TV because of it.
“I don’t think I got portrayed as myself,” he said on The Pivot.
“And there were a lot of things that just made me uncomfortable about the show. “I don’t really necessarily want to talk about it because I don’t want to say anything about the ladies or any of them. But I was asked to do more than I wanted to. … That doesn’t always work out great.
“I don’t necessarily say I regret it but it was definitely a learning experience.”
Did someone end up catching Kelce?
Five months after Kelce and Bradberry split, he entered a relationship with Instagram model and on-air host Kayla Nicole. They dated on and off for five years before breaking up in 2022.
We don’t know the extent of Swift and Kelce hanging out. Maybe there’s a promotion attached with the singer releasing “1989 (Taylor’s Version)“ in October. They were both born in 1989, after all.
On his “New Heights” podcast Wednesday with his brother Jason of the Philadelphia Eagles, he gave an update on his knee injury, saying that “things are looking up,” and that he feels a lot better than he did last week.
With the Chiefs playing the Eagles — who happen to be Swift’s favorite NFL team — on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” Nov. 20, perhaps there’s a commercial or two in the works that the world is waiting to see.
It’s all speculation at this point, and The Star will report further on these events as they develop.
The Star’s Lisa Gutierrez contributed.
This story was originally published September 13, 2023 at 2:58 PM.
