Meet Kayla Nicole, ex-girlfriend of NFL star Travis Kelce.
The on-air reporter and the record-setting tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs began dating in 2017 and have been in an on-again, off-again relationship for five years.
Following rumors of their breakup, including that they split due to financial reasons, the Ohio native set the record straight during an interview with Pivot Podcast in January 2023.
Don’t fall for that s—, Kelce told the hosts.
Kelce is now dating Taylor Swift, and Nicole is interested in hooking up with “men in position” who aren’t athletes.
“I will never say never, but I completely, with all my heart, believe that I am out of the athlete phase,” she said during an interview with Behind the likes podcast in January 2024 “I would love to date a record company executive or a movie producer.”
Here’s everything you need to know about Nicole, from her journalism background to her career in fashion.
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She graduated from Pepperdine University
Kayla Nicole/instagram
Nicole had a passion for sports long before she met Kelce and even went to school to pursue a career in the field. She posted a “friendly reminder” on her Instagram in 2018, letting her followers know that she graduated from Pepperdine University with a degree in broadcast journalism in 2013.
“Hosting is where my heart is,” she captioned a video of herself wearing a Lakers jersey while reporting outside the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
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She is a sports journalist
Kayla Nicole/instagram
After graduating from Pepperdine, Nicole began hosting appearances on sports media outlets, including ESPN and Barstool Sports, among others. While she made a name for herself covering the NBA courtside and on the sidelines for NFL coverage, Nicole also covered entertainment news.
She interviewed Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler for Global Grind during their 2017 press tour. House and Sterling K. Brown during his 2019 press tour for Angry bird 2.
She is a fashion influencer
Jon Kopaloff/Getty
In addition to working in the media, Nicole has also modeled and is an ambassador for several fashion brands, including Revolve, Crocs and Savage X Fenty.
Nicole shares her work on her Instagram, where she also shares her love of fitness and exercise. In addition, the model runs the fitness brand Strong Is Sexy.
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She met Kelce on Instagram
Amy Sussman/Getty
While it remains unclear when Nicole and Kelce first met, Nicole previously revealed that they first connected via Instagram. “He followed and insta-flirted me for a few months,” she revealed in a since-deleted Instagram Story that was captured by TMZ.
“All double taps and no dm. Sooooo after some liquid courage and a pep talk from @iqueenb (sort of ‘WHAT ARE YOU WAITING’ for) I dm him for New Years.”
She had an on-again, off-again relationship with Kelce
Alen Berezovsky/FilmMagic
After their first Instagram DMs, Kelce and Nicole began dating in 2017. In the years that followed, they broke up and got back together several times.
In August 2020, the couple divorced for the first time. Kelce confirmed the breakup news after fans speculated about their split when Nicole deleted photos of the football player on her Instagram a week earlier.
The confirmation came amid rumors that Kelce had been cheating on Nicole with “Becky,” which he denied in a now-deleted tweet. “This is fake news…a lie…not why Kayla and I broke up,” Kelce tweeted, according to a screenshot from TMZ. “Take all your hate elsewhere, please.”
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A few months later, the couple reunited that November. Kelce confirmed their reconciliation when he called Nicole “my girl” during an Instagram Live with WNBA basketball player Chiney Ogwumike. “She’s the best,” Kelce said of Nicole. “She’s absolutely the best.”
In May 2022, the couple broke up again. At the time, Barstool Sports claimed that the reason for their split was because Kelce forced Nicole to pay for “half of everything” while they were in a relationship.
However, during the interview with Pivot Podcast in January 2023, Kelce denied he was “too cheap,” adding, “don’t worry about that s—.” He continued: “I would never say I supported her. She had a very financially stable life and what she was doing in her career.”
He added: “But you’d have to be crazy to think I’d never help her out or give her a few grand to get some food or she gave me some money to go get some food…we’ve been in a five year relationship. A hundred dollars here , a hundred dollars there was no thought.”
In October 2023, fans noticed that Nicole unfollowed Kelce’s teammate Patrick Mahomes and his wife Brittany on Instagram. The news comes after Brittany stepped out with Kelce’s girlfriend Taylor Swift for dinner in NYC alongside Blake Lively and Sophie Turner.
Amid speculation that there was a falling out between the two friends, Nicole exclusively told PEOPLE that the “reality” of their situation is much more complicated — and that she has discussed the situation with Brittany in private.
“There’s a lot of history and friendship there, that doesn’t change overnight,” she explained. “But publicly, because things happen so fast and so publicly, I have to protect myself. That’s really all. The love is still there.”
She uses her platform to speak her truth
Kayla Nicole/Instagram
On October 9, Nicole read a thoughtful message she wrote in a video posted on Instagram. The open letter was written to black girls amid the “backlash” she received from online trolls like her ex-boyfriend Kelce.
“It’s always been very important to me to use my platform, not to create division, but to uplift and unite women, especially black women,” she said to the camera before beginning her address.
“Dear black girl, they might call you a traitor for falling in love. You’ll hope that those closest to you will protect you, but you’ll quickly realize that people don’t protect what they don’t value. They’ll say you’re too much, too provocative, too noisy, too open, and in the same breath, I will tell you that you are not enough.”
Nicole continued in part, “They’ll say you deserve backlash and shame. Because of your blackness, you should have known better. They’ll even try to tie your worth to your net worth. But black woman, please remember your worth lies elsewhere. Your worth runs deep in your heart.”
He has his own fitness brand
Kayla Nicole/Instagram
In October 2023, Nicole revealed to PEOPLE that she was “very excited” to relaunch her fitness brand, Tribe Therepe, based on “feel-good fitness” by incorporating tools she learned in therapy into the workout routines she shares with her followers.
“It focuses on the mental health component of exercise, which is really, really important to me and really resonates with me, and really just encourages people to take care of themselves mentally,” she said, explaining, “I think when your mind is healthy place, your body will follow it.”
After her “big break” and “big life change,” Nicole said she “lost a significant amount of weight in a very short amount of time” and wasn’t sleeping or eating. “I post content and people say, ‘You look so good. Tell us your tricks. You look amazing.’ And I’m like, ‘I’m miserable. I’m miserable. I’m depressed,'” Nicole admitted. “My abs were amazing, I had a six pack. And it was like, ‘I’ve never felt so bad in my life.’ ”
“So I started going to therapy and quickly realized, okay, it’s one thing to be physically fit, but it’s another thing to be mentally fit. You could be in the best shape of your life, but mentally, if you’re not a healthy person, you’re not going to feel good.”
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Source: HIS Education