Travis Kelce may now be dating one of the most famous women in the world – but Taylor Swift isn’t his first public girlfriend.
The Kansas City Chiefs tight end was in an on-off relationship with sports journalist Kayla Nicole for five years, finally splitting in 2022.
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However, Kayla is still reeling from their “public breakup” and recently broke down in tears about their split in a preview for Special Forces.
“Going through a public breakup, it’s been overwhelming,” she said as tears streamed down her face.”
After fellow contestant Alana Blanchard questioned who her ex was, Kayla whispered: “Travis Kelce.”
Keep reading to find out more about Travis Kelce’s ex below…
Kayla graduated from Pepperdine University in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism. Since then, she has worked for several sports media outlets, reporting on the NBA and NFL for the likes of ESPN and Barstool Sports.
She has a fitness brand
Kayla relaunched her “feel-good fitness” brand, Tribe Therepe, in 2023 after her “major breakup” and “major life change” which resulted in her losing “a substantial amount of weight within a very short amount of time”.
“It’s focusing on the mental health component of working out, which is really, really important for me and really resonates with me, and really just encouraging people to mentally take care of themselves,” she told People.
Kayla slid into Travis’ DMs on New Year’s Eve after months of “insta-flirting”. “He had been following me and insta-flirting for a few months,” she previously revealed on her Instagram Stories.
“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.”
She and Travis split up several times
Kayla and Travis’ relationship wasn’t smooth sailing, and they split several times during their five-year romance.
They first split in August 2020 amid speculation that Travis had been unfaithful, which he denied in a now-deleted tweet captured by TMZ.
“This is fake news… a lie… and not why Kayla and I broke up. Take all your hatred somewhere else please,” he wrote.
They reunited a few months later but split again in May 2022. According to reports, Travis forced Kayla to pay for “half of everything” while they were dating, something he denied during an interview with The Pivot Podcast in January 2023.
He explained: “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’d think I would never helped or gave her a couple thousand to grab some food or she gave me some money to go get some food…. we were in a relationship for five years. A hundred dollars here, a hundred dollars there wasn’t even thought about.”
She has been criticized by Taylor Swift’s fans
Kayla has been open about struggling with the “hate” she has received from dedicated Taylor fans.
“I would be lying if I said that that level of hate and just online chaos doesn’t impact me,” she said on an October episode of the Unapologetically Angel podcast.
“You could go to my most recent post and it’ll be people debating why I’m worthless and how I’ll never be a talented person.”
She added: “I think there’s something about that level of fame that attracts crazy people. And it’s unfortunate because I’ve never done anything to warrant that kind of backlash.”
Travis put her off dating another athlete
Following her breakup with Travis, Kayla has sworn off dating another athlete.
“I’ll never say never, but I fully, wholeheartedly believe that I am out of the athlete stage,” she said on the Behind the Likes podcast in January 2024.
“I do think that I am attracted to men in positions of power, and I also think that those types of men are attracted to me.”
