Who Is NFL Player Travis Kelce’s Ex-Girlfriend? Everything to Know About Kayla Nicole

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Who Is NFL Player Travis Kelce's Ex-Girlfriend? Everything to Know About Kayla Nicole

Kayla Nicole is known for many roles: she’s a journalist, model, host, influencer, and Kansas City Chief’s tight end Travis Kelce’s girlfriend — or at least, she used to be. For five years, Kelce and Nicole fought to maintain their relationship. Sadly, they called it quits as of 2022. They’ve split and reunited in the past, but this time, things seem officially done. A relationship that long merits rewatching some of its gameplay footage, we'll start with an introduction to the key player. Keep scrolling to find out more about Kelce and Nicole’s on-again/off-again relationship:

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Who Is Travis Kelce?

Kelce is a tight end in the NFL, playing for the Kansas City Chiefs. He attended the University of Cincinnati and in 2013, he was drafted in the third round. In his rookie season, he ran the most receiving yards for his team — something that’s unheard of for a tight end. 

In 2020, the Ohio native led the Chiefs to victory over the San Francisco 49ers at Super Bowl LIV. He is a seven-time Pro Bowler and even set the record for most receiving yards in a season and most consecutive seasons with over 1000 yards in his position. Kelce is a legend and a popular choice for Fantasy Football teams.

His career continues to propel forward with no cap or limit in sight.

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Was Kelce on a Dating Show?

Yes! Prior to becoming a Super Bowl Champion, Kelce was just a bachelor looking for love on reality TV. In the spring of 2016, Kelce appeared on a Bachelor-style dating show on E! called Catching Kelce, just a couple of years into his NFL career. Fifty women from 50 states competed for a chance at love with the NFL star. 

"I’ve been in the bar scene," Kelce told E!, "I’ve been in the club scene, and I haven’t found what I’m looking for."

Contestant Maya Benberry was the lucky lady that caught the tight end’s heart. She told Kentucky.com, "I did win. We wrapped up filming the finale April 8, and we've had to keep things a secret since. Now we just date in real life. To me and him, it feels like a fresh start." The relationship lasted about eight months.

Five months after his breakup with Chasing Kelce winner Benberry, Nicole and Kelce made their relationship public. After the romance was announced, Benberry took to Twitter alleging that the NFL star had cheated on her.

According to screen grabs taken by The Shade Room, Benberry tweeted, "When you and your ex broke up 5 months ago but you find out via social media that he's supposedly been in another relationship for 6..."

Kelce has never confirmed or denied the accusations.

Credit: Courtesy of Kayla Nicole/Instagram

Who Is Kayla Nicole?

An LA girl through and through, she graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism at Pepperdine University in Malibu in 2013. 

Whether it’s on an NBA court or NFL field, you can find Nicole interviewing athletes and coaches alike for media outlets such as ESPN. The on-air host occasionally appears on Barstool Sports, TMZ, and other trending sports news sites, too. 

At one point, the Savage X Fenty ambassador did on-court reporting for the Lakers, as well as worked at CBS Radio / 92.3 NOW New York.

Beyond her media work, the California native has also explored the world of modeling and competed in beauty pageants. According to her professional Facebook page, she was awarded the titles of: "Top 20 Miss CA 2013, First Runner Up Miss Malibu 2013, Top 10 Miss CA USA 2012, 2nd Runner Up Miss Southern Coast Regional 2012, and 3rd Runner Up Miss Malibu 2012."

The model has garnered an impressive social media audience with 640K Instagram followers, 45.2K TikTok followers and 36.2K YouTube subscribers. Anyone who follows Nicole or knows her personally can see she is somewhat of a comedian. 

She was often seen spending time with Patrick Mahome’s now-wife Brittany Matthews and the quarterback's younger brother, Jackson Mahomes.

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How did Kelce and Nicole Meet?

Kelce and Nicole’s relationship began in the way many modern relationships begin: He stalked her on social media, and she sent him a direct message. 

"He had been following me and insta-flirting for a few months," she revealed in an Instagram Story. "All double taps and no dm. Soooo after a little liquid courage and a pep talk from @iqueenb (something along the lines of ‘WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR’) I dm’d him on New Years."

Their first public appearance was at his then-teammate, Jeremy Maclin’s wedding, and soon, Kelce called Nicole the "peanut butter to my JELLYTIME" in a now-deleted Instagram post.

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When Was Kelce and Nicole’s First Split?

As good as things were at one point, it all started crashing down in 2020. COVID-19 made it a difficult year for everyone, and by the end of that summer, Kelce confirmed their break up. According to the New York Post, rumors flew around accusing Kelce of cheating on the social media personality.

Kelce quickly diffused the situation and took to Twitter to deny that infidelity was the reason for their split.

According to a screenshot captured by TMZ, Kelce tweeted, "This is fake news… a lie… and not why Kayla and I broke up… take all your hatred somewhere else please." 

Nicole made no comments on the subject, but the two did break up — they even scrubbed their social media accounts clean of each other.

A few months later, in November 2020, Kelce confirmed the former couple had gotten back together while speaking with the Los Angeles Sparks basketball player Chiney Ogwumike in a live video.

Credit: Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP/Shutterstock

When Was Their Second (and Final?) Breakup?

Fast forward to May 2022, and things ended once again; however, the split was a bit unclear at first. Barstool Sports released an article claiming the two ended their five-year relationship because Kelce forced Nicole to pay half for everything.

Even though it is uncommon, some celebrities do similar things to ensure their potential spouse is not in it for just the money. Nicole dispelled these false claims right out of the gate. She called Barstool’s article garbage and incorrect via Twitter.

Even though the 50/50 rumor went out the window, people were still curious about the status of Nicole and Kelce’s relationship. Later that summer and into September, things became quite clear. 

Earlier on in the summer, the two once again deleted all their pics of each other on Instagram … and then the TikTok videos were released. Nicole is not exactly TikTok famous, but in a since-deleted video, she said she felt stupid because she thought their long-term relationship would amount to marriage.

She released a second TikTok after some backlash poking fun at how ridiculous it is she can’t even go online and talk about these things without receiving hate. It seems things are through — this time, for good.