Travis Kelce says all those entertainment industry opportunities might have hurt him on the field.
The Kansas City Chiefs tight end says in a new interview that Hollywood calling in the wake of his popularity explosion over the last couple years came at a price after his team came up short at the Super Bowl LIX in February.
“Win a Super Bowl is the only goal,” Kelce told GQ. “It’s the only goal. It’s every goal. I think it might have slipped a little bit because I did have a little bit more focus in trying to set myself up. And opportunities came up where I was excited to venture into a new world of acting and being an entertainer. I don’t say this as ‘I shouldn’t have done it.’ I’m just saying that my work ethic is such that I have so much pride in how I do things that I never want the product to tail off, and I feel like these past two years haven’t been to my standard. I just have such a motivation to show up this year for my guys.”
Kelce might be a tad hard on himself here. The man has gone to the Super Bowl five times and won three — including in 2024. On the other hand, only he knows if he truly gave the last couple seasons his all.
Over the last two years, Kelce took a gig as a game show host for Prime Video’s Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity, took a dramatic turn in the Ryan Murphy FX thriller Grotesquerie and had a role in the current Netflix hit Happy Gilmore 2, among other gigs.
In the interview, Kelce also discussed his relationship with Taylor Swift on the eve of a highly anticipated New Heights podcast episode (which drops Wednesday at 7 p.m.) where Swift is set to discuss her new album, The Life of a Showgirl.
As for his relationship with Swift, the NFL star said he admires the athleticism she displayed on her Eras Tour, saying her effort surpasses what NFL players go through. “She will never tell anyone that she is an athlete,” he said. “But I’ve seen what she goes through. I’ve seen the amount of work that she puts on her body, and it’s mind-blowing … [Swift’s performance] is arguably more exhausting than how much I put in on a Sunday, and she’s doing it three, four, five days in a row.” Also, that he values having a partner who “who understands the scrutiny, understands the ups and downs of being in front of millions.”
Added Kelce: “Whenever I’m with her, it feels like we’re just regular people. When there is not a camera on us, we’re just two people that are in love. It can be perceived as something else because of how much it is talked about and how much we are tracked whenever we do go out, but I would say that it’s as normal of … It happened very organically even though from a media standpoint it was being tracked. It still happened very organically … we fell in love just based off the people we were sitting in a room together with. We are two fun-loving people who have the morals to appreciate everyone for who they are. We share all those values. It kind of just took the fuck off.”