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Travis Kelce Was Worried He Would ‘Push’ Taylor Swift ‘Away’ After Their First Meeting
Travis Kelce has finally opened up about the early days of his relationship with Taylor Swift, revealing how their first date came to be — and the relatable fear he had afterward.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal published on Monday, November 20, the Kansas City Chiefs player shared that he and Taylor, 33, had “already kind of been talking” before they met up in person for their first date in New York, so he wasn’t nervous about finding a connection between them.
“I knew we could have a nice dinner and, like, a conversation, and what goes from there will go from there,” Travis, 34, said. His inner circle, on the other hand, was a bit nervous. “Everybody around me telling me, ‘Don’t f–k this up!’ And me sitting here saying, ‘Yeah — got it,’” he added.
It wasn’t until after their initial date that he started to worry. As the media attention on the couple picked up, the football player feared he would say the wrong thing about the relationship and mess things up.
“That was the biggest thing to me: make sure I don’t say anything that would push Taylor away,” Travis continued.
Many Swifties and non-Swifties alike are very familiar with the story of how Travis and Taylor’s relationship began — with a friendship bracelet. The tight end revealed on his “New Heights” podcast with brother Jason Kelce in July that he had attended Taylor’s Eras tour stop at Arrowhead Stadium earlier that month with the idea to give her a bracelet that had his phone number on it. However, he never got the chance to pass it off to her. Luckily, someone on Taylor’s team decided to start “playing Cupid.”
“There were definitely people she knew that knew who I was, in her corner [who said], ‘Yo! Did you know he was coming?’” Travis revealed, adding that he was then contacted by someone on Taylor’s team to put the pop star in touch with him.
“She told me exactly what was going on and how I got lucky enough to get her to reach out,” he said.
Dating rumors continued to swirl throughout September until Taylor all but confirmed the romance on September 24 with her appearance in the box at Arrowhead Stadium as the Chiefs played against the Chicago Bears. She cheered Travis on alongside his mother, Donna Kelce. Like Travis, Donna, 71, was careful not to reveal too much in the beginning, describing her experience with Taylor as “OK” on The Today Show on October 6. Travis told WSJ that Donna still kicks herself for coming across as too underwhelmed, but he reassures her that she handled the interview well.
Since the September 24 game, Taylor has been spotted at other matches. She and Travis also haven’t been shy about their PDA while out on dates. He attended her Eras tour stop in Argentina on November 11, where she gave him a shoutout in her song “Karma” and planted a kiss on his lips when she met him off stage after the show. With Taylor becoming more open about their romance, Travis has felt comfortable doing the same. In his interview, he called her a “genius” and revealed that they share the same values.
“Her team is her family. Her family does a lot of stuff in terms of the tour, the marketing, being around, so I think she has a lot of those values as well, which is right up my alley,” he said.
Meanwhile, Donna can tell that her son is very happy with Taylor.
“I can tell you this. He’s happier than I’ve seen him in a long time,” she told WSJ. “God bless him, he shot for the stars!”
