Taylor Swift opens up about relationship with Travis Kelce for first time

National Football League

Updated Dec. 6, 2023 3:45 p.m. ET

In a wide-ranging interview with Time Magazine, which named her its 2023 Person of the Year, music megastar Taylor Swift spoke extensively on the record about her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce for the first time.

Swift said that the two spent more time building their relationship in secret than previously revealed before she attended the Chiefs’ Week 3 game against the Chicago Bears, her first public appearance with Kelce.

“This all started when Travis very adorably put me on blast on his podcast, which I thought was metal as hell,” she told Time. “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.

“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? We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date.”

Since then, Swift has attended four more Chiefs games and has been featured on the broadcasts of each one. She acknowledged that she has seen some of the backlash from NFL fans for her abundance of camera time.

“I don’t know how they know what suite I’m in,” Swift said. “There’s a camera, like, a half-mile away, and you don’t know where it is, and you have no idea when the camera is putting you in the broadcast, so I don’t know if I’m being shown 17 times or once.

“I’m just there to support Travis. I have no awareness of if I’m being shown too much and pissing off a few dads, Brads and Chads.”

However, she’s enjoying her newfound fandom.

“Football is awesome, it turns out,” Swift told Time. “I’ve been missing out my whole life.”

Taylor Swift reacts to Travis Kelce’s touchdown for the Chiefs

Most important to her, however, is showing up to support Kelce rather than avoiding his games and the inevitable spotlight that comes with her every appearance.

“When you say a relationship is public, that means I’m going to see him do what he loves, we’re showing up for each other, other people are there and we don’t care,” Swift told TIME. “The opposite of that is you have to go to an extreme amount of effort to make sure no one knows that you’re seeing someone. And we’re just proud of each other.”

The Chiefs had won every game Swift had attended until Sunday, when they suffered an upset loss to the Packers in Green Bay. Kansas City is now 8-4 and battling for position in the AFC playoff picture, and it sounds like Swift will likely be in attendance as the Chiefs head into the regular season’s home stretch.