Taylor Swift gave her first interview in years to Time—and isn’t hiding anything about how she views her career or her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
Swift revealed she and Kelce did start dating privately after he’d first mentioned, on one of his New Heights podcast episodes, his efforts to give her a friendship bracelet at her July Kansas City, Missouri, Eras tour concert. By the time she first attended a Chiefs game in September, they were already an official couple.
'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.'
Throughout the interview, she made clear that she feels no need to hide the romance this time. These comments come following Swift’s longest and most private romance, her six-year relationship with Joe Alwyn, which ended in March. She appeared to reference that previous relationship in later comments, saying, '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. 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.'
Swift also addressed attending Kelce’s NFL games and the footage the cameras display of her cheering from the suites, saying, 'I don’t know how they know what suite I’m in. 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.'
Swift made it clear she really isn’t seeking attention or trying to detract from the game: '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.' She also playfully noted her newfound fondness of the sport: 'Football is awesome, it turns out. I’ve been missing out my whole life.'
Above all, Swift reflected on her changed life mentality now. She is no longer afraid to go out in the world and be seen, either with Kelce or without him. 'Over the years, I’ve learned I don’t have the time or bandwidth to get pressed about things that don’t matter,' she said. 'Yes, if I go out to dinner, there’s going to be a whole chaotic situation outside the restaurant. But I still want to go to dinner with my friends.'
'Life is short,' she continued. 'Have adventures. Me locking myself away in my house for a lot of years—I’ll never get that time back. I’m more trusting now than I was six years ago.'
Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she's not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.
