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One of the most surprising things to come of 2023 was the romance between Taylor Swift and NFL star Travis Kelce. Not because of the pairing itself but because the two seemed unphased about going public from the get-go. Kelce has even gone on the record multiple times, both in interviews and on his podcast New Heights, to gush about the singer.
Swift, who was papped with her ex Joe Alwyn roughly just four times in the six years they were together, is notoriously private about matters of the heart—leaving us to search for clues in her songs. So when she was photographed cheering him on at Kansas City Chiefs games and hanging out with his mother, it seemed the 33-year-old was throwing caution to the wind.
But, of course, not all was as it seemed.
Speaking to Time magazine to celebrate her anointment as ‘Person of the Year’, the singer has broken her silence about the romance, revealing that the couple actually started dating long before they went public in late September.
In the interview, the Grammy winner praised Kelce for “adorably” putting her “on blast” back in July when he admitted to trying (and failing) to get a bracelet with his number to her at an Eras Tour stop in Kansas City.
Calling the vulnerable shoutout “metal as hell”, she then made the revelation that it was then that the two started getting in touch.
“We started hanging out right after that,” she said. “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.”
She explained that by the time they were publicly snapped together, the couple were already official.
“I think some people think that they saw our first date at that game?” she said, referring to her appearance at a Chiefs football game on September 24. “We would never be psychotic enough to hard-launch a first date.”
Kelce has praised his girlfriend as a “genius” in an interview with WSJ magazine and famously attended her concert in Argentina. Though fans have been surprised by her openness, Swift explained that hiding makes it difficult to support each other and that that’s what’s important.
“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,” she said. “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 pop star also noted how she’s come to love football, calling it an “awesome” sport that she’s been “missing out on” her whole life.
