LOS ANGELES — Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift explained why she previously avoided dating athletes and how she began a relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce during episode four of her Disney+ docuseries “The Eras Tour: The End of an Era,” which streamed in early 2025 and featured a conversation with her mother, Andrea Swift.
Swift said she spent much of her career dating musicians and actors and deliberately avoided athletes because she did not consider herself athletic and felt unfamiliar with the sports world. She said that unfamiliarity shaped her belief that she would not connect with someone involved in professional sports.
Swift said she met Kelce after experiencing two breakups during the first half of her Eras Tour, which she said left her emotionally exhausted and open to changes in her personal life. She said Andrea encouraged her to make different choices, recalling advice that urged her to try something outside her usual pattern.
Andrea said she first became aware of Kelce after seeing media reports that he attended one of Swift’s concerts and attempted to give her a friendship bracelet, a tradition among Swift fans. Andrea said she researched Kelce and contacted her cousin Robin, whom she described as familiar with the Kansas City Chiefs, to ask about him.
Andrea said Robin spoke positively about Kelce and described him as kind and close to his family. She said she viewed the friendship bracelet gesture as meaningful because it originated from Swift’s fan culture.
Swift said that during her first date with Kelce, he explained football to her. She said she later developed an interest in the sport as her relationship progressed and described that interest as an unexpected change.
Swift said the relationship altered her earlier belief that she could not connect with someone from the sports world and described her growing interest in football as an unanticipated development in her life.
