Travis Kelce gushes over Taylor Swift in GQ story: 'We're just two people that are in love'
Less than seven hours after Taylor Swift announced the title of her 12th album, Travis Kelce is gracing the cover of GQ magazine with a cover story diving into football, his next career move and life dating a superstar.
The Kansas City Chiefs tight end opened up about the blinding spotlight of being Swift's "plus one" and how he's navigating the pressure, in the more than 6,000 worded article written by Simon and Schuster publisher Sean Manning.
"When there is not a camera on us, we're just two people that are in love," Kelce said. "It can be perceived as something else because of how much it is talked about and how much we are tracked whenever we do go out, but I would say that it's as normal of. … It happened very organically even though from a media standpoint it was being tracked. It still happened very organically."
Kelce said one of the most refreshing parts of dating Swift has been realizing how similar their worlds are.
"I hadn't experienced somebody in the same shoes as me, having a partner who understands the scrutiny, understands the ups and downs of being in front of millions," he said. "That was very relatable, seeing how exhausted she would get after shows. She may not think of herself as an athlete. She will never tell anyone that she is an athlete. But I've seen what she goes through. I've seen the amount of work that she puts on her body, and it's mind-blowing."
Taylor Swift is 'electric,' Travis Kelce says in GQ
Kelce and Swift have dated since the summer of 2023, which Swift revealed began "when Travis very adorably put me on blast on his podcast, which I thought was metal as hell," she said in her Time magazine Person of the Year article.
"We started hanging out right after that. So 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," Swift said in Time. "By the time I went to that first game," the Chiefs versus Bears game in September 2023, where she watched from a suite, "we were a couple. I think some people think that they saw our first date at that game? We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date."
Kelce followed her to 14 concert stops along the Eras Tour, and she changed the "Karma" lyrics every night he attended to, "Karma is the guy on the Chiefs coming straight home to me."
In the GQ article, Kelce called the show "electric" and said he's amazed by the singer-songwriter's stamina.
"To go out on a stage, on a computer, essentially, for three hours," he says. "The (Eras Tour) floor is literally – I've seen underneath that thing. It is a football-field-sized computer. You take that into Singapore, where it is scorching hot, and all of a sudden you're feeling the fumes from the computer and you're feeling the fumes from the sun and you're doing a show for three hours with a lot of energy, bringing it every single song. That is arguably more exhausting than how much I put in on a Sunday, and she’s doing it three, four, five days in a row."
Taylor Swift's 12th era involves Travis Kelce
Swift included her boyfriend and his brother in announcing her newest project, "The Life of a Showgirl."
At 12:12 a.m. ET on Aug. 12, a "New Heights" podcast teaser video showed Swift and Kelce next to each other as she revealed to Jason Kelce the album cover.
Kelce has become the conduit of news for Swift. In addition to changing the lyrics, she invited him on stage during her showgirl portion of the show to carry her into "I Can Do It With A Broken Heart." She also did a last-minute surprise at Tight End University, an event he cohosts, performing "Shake It Off."
Although he doesn't say when his last season will be with the NFL, Kelce told GQ, "Nowadays, I just want to be respected and loved by the people that I’m surrounded by in my work.
"I want to leave it better than where it was when I started," he said, before invoking Swift. "And I see her having those same values."
Don't miss any Taylor Swift news; sign up for the free, weekly newsletter This Swift Beat.
Follow Bryan West, the Paste BN Network's Taylor Swift reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.