Travis Kelce on His Upcoming Season, Post-NFL Ambitions, and Life with Taylor Swift

“Whenever I get in front of a crowd, I feel like I’ve got to be like, Woooo! Like, excited, bringing the energy. Then I saw that coolness and that calmness and that relatability that she is so good at presenting. I really grabbed that. Like, Man, I can use that side of entertainment as well. It’s not just always being the guy that brings the energy and creates these exciting moments.”

I remind him of an interview he once did in which he said his ideal partner would share some of the same qualities as his mom.

“Are there any similarities between the two of them?” I ask.

“Their kindness, their genuineness, their ability to say hello to everyone in the room,” he says. “Their ability to show love and support no matter what. And on top of that, their work ethic. I saw my mother reach goals that she had set for herself, go from being a teller to working all the way up in the KeyBank building.”

Here, thinking of his mom’s determination and perseverance, Kelce gets a bit emotional and pauses briefly to collect himself. “I’ve seen Taylor do the exact same thing of setting goals for herself and exceeding the expectations and really captivating the world in that regard.”

In documentaries about the Kelce brothers, the family has been open about how Donna and Ed kept their marriage together for the sake of Travis and Jason, finally divorcing after 28 years when Travis was in college. “They were always the ultimate partners in terms of being there for us as kids,” Kelce had told me. “There was no division in terms of anger at each other. I think the romance of it all might’ve just kind of faded, being so focused on their careers and raising a family. It’s probably hard for parents to keep that romance, especially when you’ve got kids that are into fucking everything, you know? My brother was into so much more stuff than me—he was a musician, he was doing all this theater stuff—outside of just sports. I’m doing all these sports—two sports every season. So there’s so much shit going on.”

I had asked Kelce how visible the strain in his parents’ marriage was growing up, and he recalled just one, small moment. “We always had the calendar on the refrigerator of everything, and it said ‘25th anniversary’ on it. Might have been 15. I don’t want to get this wrong.” More so than at any other point in our conversation, Kelce deliberated, scrupulously, as if he wasn’t quite sure whether he should reveal this memory, and if he was going to do so then he wanted to be certain he wasn’t mischaracterizing it in any way.

“I don’t want to get this wrong,” he repeated. “It had to be around 20. Let’s say 20. I remember seeing it and I was like, ‘Oh, it’s their anniversary. I wonder what they’re going to do.’ And it was kind of just another day almost. Another day of knocking out things for the kids.”