Since last fall, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have made no secret of their burgeoning romantic relationship: The two made their public debut as a couple at a Kansas City Chiefs game, and have since been seen gallivanting around the world together as Swift continues her Eras Tour.
Given the stratospheric pitch of Swift’s fame, the two have been relatively tight-lipped about one another in interviews. This week, however, Kelce opened up like never before in a new podcast interview—a step that was perhaps inevitable given that last weekend he performed on stage with his girlfriend while wearing a top hat and tails. Now that’s vulnerability.
On the latest episode of the Bussin’ with the Boys podcast, the hosts broached the topic of Swift with thier guest, Kelce, as elegantly as they possibly could. “When you guys started dating—in the locker room, how did the boys handle that?” one co-host asked. “Were they giving you shit for it? Some secret Swifties coming out?”
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Below, see Kelce’s answer to that question, plus all the other Taylor tea he spilled in the episode.
On the early days of their headline-making relationship
“No, nobody really gave me shit,” Kelce said. “Nobody knew what was going on, really; all over the place. We kind of kept it between us as much as we could, but once she came to a game, obviously it was all popping from there.”
And it was Swift’s poise in dealing with such public attention that initially wooed Kelce, he said.
“She’s very self-aware, but at the same time it’s like…yeah, she’s very self-aware,” Kelce continued. “She understands situations like that and I think that’s why I really started to fall for her, how genuine she is just around friends and family. It can get crazy for somebody with that much attention, and she keeps it so chill and so cool. I can admire it for sure.”
“The first game she came to against the Bears, I was like, ‘I can probably set you up with everything,’ and she just walked right through the front door,” Kelce added admiringly. “There’s no like going down, talking to security, making sure she [gets to her seats]. She was like, ‘I just want to be around the family and friends and experience this with everybody.’ I was just like, ‘She got points for that.’ She’s in the madness. She wants to be a part of it. She wants to support me and do things like that. She really won me over with that.”
On keeping some parts of their relationship private
After one of the co-hosts noted, “You guys have done a decent job at keeping things private,” Kelce said, “You want to keep things private, but at the same time, like, I’m not here to hide anything. Like, that’s my girl. You know what I mean? That’s my lady. I’m proud of that. So it’s not like I’m sitting here trying to juggle, like, how can I keep this under wraps?”
“You just don’t wanna let everybody into your personal life and be able to comment on it, knowing that everything she does is getting a headline,” he added.
On the white-hot glare of pop culture attention
“[Paparazzi] has been the craziest thing,” the tight end said. “Definitely the pulling up to the house, the just random, I don’t know… It’s a different demographic than the NFL, so it’s been cool to dabble in that and see her following and everything.”
Further commenting on the Chiefs-Swifties crossover, Kelce admitted, “It’s been fun because a lot more kids are into the game and the Chiefs fans have turned into a lot of her fans. And her fans have turned into Chiefs fans, so I’ve had fun with every aspect of it. But when you’re at home, you want privacy, and you don’t always get that.”
On being the latest member of The Tortured Poets Department entourage
Notably, the segment of Swift’s Eras Tour that Kelce hopped on stage for was the one where she unpacks a recent romantic betrayal. (In plain English, Tortured Poets Department is almost certainly mostly about Matty Healy ghosting Swift). Kelce, for his part, seems to be the consummate good sport.
“Dude, the concerts are electric,” Kelce said on the podcast. “They’re electric and she just switched it up. She just came out with the new album so she kind of incorporated that into the new show. So it’s just like, I don’t know. She’s having fun up there. Yeah. So it’s like, I can enjoy seeing her in her element, killing it on stage. And I love the show, man. She’s got bangers.”
Kelce did admit, however, that he’s more of a 1989 fan—when asked to name his favorite Swift song, he chose “Blank Space.”
