Travis Kelce and his family are navigating a new level of fame thanks to his romance with Taylor Swift — and it hasn’t been easy.
Kelce, 34, spoke candidly about his relationship with Swift, 33, in a WSJ. Magazine profile published Monday, November 20, reflecting on how their high-profile love story began and how he’s adjusted to the brighter limelight. “Everybody around me [is] telling me: ‘Don’t f—k this up!’ And me sitting here saying: ‘Yeah — got it,’” he quipped.
Kelce confessed that “the biggest thing” he wanted to do was “make sure I don’t say anything that would push Taylor away.” Even his mom, Donna Kelce, has learned lessons about being swept into the media frenzy.
Donna, 71, appeared on the Today show in October after chatting with Swift at two of her son’s Kansas City Chiefs games. She tried playing it cool at the time, telling the morning show anchors that her focus was on the field.
“Seriously, you know, I want to watch my kids,” she said, referring to Travis and Jason Kelce, who plays center on the Philadelphia Eagles. When pressed about the interaction, Donna added that her time with Swift in the suite was “OK.”
According to the WSJ. Magazine profile, Donna wasn’t too pleased with the way her “underwhelmed” comments seemed on the morning show, but her son gave her a sweet pep talk. “[Travis], not wanting his mom to feel bad, immediately phoned her and assured her that she did a super job — adding that her green eyeglasses looked great,” the article states.
While still not trying to overstep, Donna made it clear to WSJ. that she approves. “I can tell you this. He’s happier than I’ve seen him in a long time,” she said. “God bless him, he shot for the stars!”
Since they were first linked in September, nearly three months after he attended The Eras Tour in Kansas City, Travis has shared tidbits about his relationship with Swift on his and Jason’s “New Heights” podcast and in various press conferences. Earlier this month, he played coy when asked whether he’s “in love” with Swift.
“I’m going to keep my personal relationship personal,” he told reporters before the Chiefs defeated the Miami Dolphins in Germany. (Swift did not travel for the overseas game, instead opting for a girls night in New York City with Patrick Mahomes‘ wife, Brittany Mahomes.)
Both Travis and Jason, 36, are used to the NFL spotlight, but adjusting to Swift’s level of attention has been eye-opening. “Obviously. I’ve never dated anyone with that kind of aura about them … I’ve never dealt with it,” Travis told WSJ. Magazine. “But at the same time, I’m not running away from any of it.”
He added: “The scrutiny she gets, how much she has a magnifying glass on her, every single day, paparazzi outside her house, outside every restaurant she goes to, after every flight she gets off, and she’s just living, enjoying life. When she acts like that, I better not be the one acting all strange.”
Donna, for her part, shed light on some of the more unexpected fan encounters she’s had since her son went public with Swift. “Basically, everybody’s been very, very kind. Very respectful,” she exclusively told Us Weekly earlier this month. “But every once in a while, I’ll have somebody that runs into the bathroom after me and I’m like, ‘Can we wait till we get out of here before you take my picture? I really don’t want to have a picture in the restroom.’ It’s things like that that are kind of funny, which I’m sure everybody gets that’s in the public eye. … You take the good with the not so good. It is what it is.”
