In a recent podcast episode, Travis Kelce, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end, humorously claimed that he had no girlfriends before his relationship with Taylor Swift, sparking interest in his past romantic life.
On May 8, 2025, during a special Mother’s Day episode of his podcast New Heights, Kelce jokingly told his brother Jason and their mother Donna that he hadn’t had any girlfriends before Swift. Donna, who has supported both of her sons throughout their careers, mentioned that she had only met one or two of Travis’s ex-girlfriends. In response, Travis laughed and said, “What? I didn’t have any girlfriends,” clearly joking. However, his comment raised some eyebrows, especially given his well-known five-year on-and-off relationship with sports journalist Kayla Nicole, which ended in 2022.
Travis and Kayla’s relationship was marked by several breakups and reconciliations. They first split in August 2020 amid cheating rumors, which Travis strongly denied in a now-deleted tweet. He wrote, “This is fake news… a lie… and not why Kayla and I broke up. Take all your hatred somewhere else please.” Despite their split, they got back together but ultimately parted ways again in May 2022.
In a January 2023 interview on The Pivot Podcast, Travis addressed rumors that he had forced Kayla to pay for half of their expenses. He said, “Don’t buy into that [expletive]. I would never say that I was supporting her. She had a very financially stable life and what she was doing in her career.” He added, “But you’ve got to be crazy if you think I never helped or gave her a couple thousand to grab some food… we were in a relationship for five years.”
Since going public with Taylor Swift in September 2023, when she attended a Chiefs game against the Chicago Bears, the couple has kept their relationship mostly private. Swift later revealed in a TIME magazine interview that they had been dating for some time before their public debut at the game. “We actually had a significant amount of time that no one knew, which I’m grateful for because we got to get to know each other,” she explained. “By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple. I think some people think that they saw our first date at that game.”
Despite their efforts to stay private, their relationship has been under intense media scrutiny. The couple chose to skip the 2025 Met Gala due to their busy schedules, which only fueled speculation about their relationship. On the May 7 episode of New Heights, Donna playfully asked if Travis had gotten a tan. He cryptically replied that he had just been in his “cubicle,” a hint at their desire for privacy.
Travis’s humorous dismissal of his past relationships, along with his and Swift’s efforts to limit public appearances together, has left fans wondering about their relationship. The couple reportedly took a trip earlier in 2025 but managed to avoid the spotlight. Travis has been seen on solo outings, while Swift has mostly stayed out of the public eye, even skipping major events like the Met Gala.
Their relationship is of particular interest not only because of their celebrity status but also because of the contrast between their public personas and private lives. Fans are eager to learn more about how they manage their relationship under the intense media attention.
As they continue to balance their careers and personal lives, Travis and Taylor remain focused on their professional commitments while trying to nurture their relationship away from the cameras. Their situation is not unique among celebrity couples, but the high profile of both stars makes it more complex.
In the end, Travis’s lighthearted remarks about his dating history and his relationship with Swift reflect a wider trend of celebrities trying to maintain some normalcy. Whether or not Travis truly forgot his past romances remains unclear, but one thing is certain: his relationship with Taylor Swift continues to capture the attention of fans around the world.
