Everything
Travis Kelce has managed to achieve something very difficult. No, we’re not talking about his multiple NFL records or the two Super Bowl championships he has under his belt at just 34, but something else he’s won: the approval of Swifties, Taylor Swift‘s loyal brood of fans. Hell, the duo have even nailed their couple style straight off the bat. But when you’re dating one of the biggest pop stars in the world, the public naturally takes an interest in your past romances. And just like his new lover, Kelce has also just come out of a long-term relationship.
Despite being one of the greatest tight ends of all time (for the sake of this story, let’s pretend to understand exactly what that means), the athlete has managed to keep his personal life mostly private. But just as the scrutiny is constantly cast over Swift’s dating history, headlines swarmed around the split between him and his now ex, model and sports reporter Kayla Nicole.
Having just split with his Chasing Kelce dating show winner, Maya Benberry, the Kansas City Chiefs footballer started dating Nicole in 2017. The couple were on and off between then and 2022 before Kelce confirmed his single status at the beginning of this year.
As for why they split, a rumour went viral at the time that suggested Nicole was fed up with the pro athlete’s “cheap” ways. As reported by Barstool Sports, a source claimed that the reason the couple broke up is because of Kelce’s insistence that the pair go 50/50 on everything, despite his hefty NFL salary.
“Travis is very cheap,” the tip read. “In the beginning, he tried to make Kayla ‘prove’ that she wasn’t with him for the money… so she had to pay half of everything. Half of every date, every trip, everything.”
Nicole actually then took to Twitter to settle the rumours.
“Not sure where y’all got this nonsense from, but it’s absurd and very false,” she wrote in May 2022.
Kelce stayed out of the drama at the time but denied the allegations during an appearance on The Pivot podcast just this year.
“Don’t buy into that sh-t!” he urged. “I would never say that I was supporting her. She had a very financially stable life and what she was doing in her career.”
“You’ve got to be crazy if you think I’d never helped or gave her a couple of dollars to grab some food, or she gave me some money,” he continued. “We were in a relationship for five years. A hundred dollars here and a hundred dollars there wasn’t even thought about, which is ridiculous.”
Sure, when you’re signing career contracts worth upwards of $57 million, money may be a point of contention when dating. But with his latest squeeze, we don’t think it should be a problem. Although, we can’t help but feel Swift would have no issues at all going Dutch on a date.
