If there’s one thing Kayla Nicole is gonna do, it’s shake it off.
Hours after her ex-boyfriend Travis Kelce announced his engagement to Taylor Swift, fans were curious what route the sports reporter might take. So when she reshared a video of Tracee Ellis Ross talking about choosing joy, rather than just happiness, in life, well the armchair analysts had thoughts.
With some 14 million fans double-tapping the couple’s shared Aug. 26 announcement within the first hour, safe to assume the haters were gonna hate, hate, hate whatever the NFL tight end’s former girlfriend posted on her social media. But she never missed a beat.
“Read about this very concept years ago in a book called Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn’t Enough,” Kayla detailed in the Aug. 26 post. “I aspire! So so good.”
And, at this point, the 33-year-old knows all too well that her social media activity is going to be dissected.
“It’s pretty constant, exhausting,” she detailed en route to winning season three of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test alongside Brody Jenner earlier this year. “Constantly. It doesn’t matter. I could post about the sky being blue and people will have a response about an ex and their new situation.”
And when said ex is a three-time Super Bowl champion and his new situation is one of the world’s most famous pop stars, who happened to have just accepted his flower-filled proposal, it can be hard to keep your head in the game.
“It’s inadvertently affecting me to the point where it makes me question just like my overall value as a person,” she said of the constant nit-picking. The toughest part, she continued is “just the comparison” to the 14-time Grammy winner. “I think I’m still trying to figure out how to deal with it.”
Not that the influencer sees Taylor as her opponent. Rather she’s very much enchanted with her.
“I really, like, like her,” she admitted on Special Forces. “I think she’s very talented.”
Though the sport reporter-slash-influencer-slash-model-slash-podcaster is pretty skilled in her own right. For those unfamiliar with the multi-hyphenate and the Xs and Os of her and Travis’ pairing, we’re breaking down all the plays.
What does Kayla Nicole do for work?
Much like her former boyfriend, the multi-hyphenate can hustle. Graduating from California’s Pepperdine University in 2013 with a degree in broadcast journalism, “hosting is where my heart is,” she shared in a 2018 Instagram video of herself reporting outside of L.A.’s Staples Center in a Kobe Bryant jersey.
She’s taken to the field, covering both the NBA and the NFL for the likes of Barstool Sports and ESPN. And proving she has more than one move, she’s interviewed celebrities like Amy Poehler, Will Ferrell and Sterling K. Brown.
Now a well-known figure herself, the model-slash-influencer has served as an ambassador for brands including Revolve, Crocs, Savage X Fenty, Alo and her own fitness line.
Re-launching Tribe Therepe in 2023, she told People, “It’s focusing on the mental health component of working out, which is really, really important for me.”
Because she had recently, ahem, gone through a “major breakup” and “lost a substantial amount of weight within a very short amount of time” while neglecting the rest of her health.
These days, though, she’s embracing the wins.
Despite a lifelong love of fitness, “For years I hesitated and resisted being in the wellness/fitness space because I felt I wasn’t good enough,” she admitted in a December 2024 post. “I needed to lose weight first, get my abs back, have zero cellulite. Blah blah blah. And I hate that for me because the reality is I’m human (as are you) and of course we all have room for improvement. But if you’re waiting to be perfect you will be waiting for forever.”
How long did Travis Kelce and Kayla Nicole date?
The pair huddled up for five years, though there were some time-outs. One came in 2020, with Ohio-bred Travis batting down a rumor that he hadn’t been a loyal teammate.
Sharing an article accusing him of cheating, he tweeted that August, “This is fake news…a lie…and not why Kayla and I broke up…take all your hatred somewhere else please.”
Why did Travis Kelce and Kayla Nicole break up?
After a few false starts, the pair hung up their metaphorical pads for good in May 2022, Travis once again forced to defend himself.
“I would never say that I was supporting her,” he outlined during a January 2023 appearance on The Pivot Podcast, responding to a rumor that he forced her to pay for half of everything when they dated. “She had a very financially stable life and what she was doing in her career.”
But he wasn’t stingy with the assists.
“We were in a relationship for five years,” he insisted. “A hundred dollars here, a hundred dollars there wasn’t even thought about.”
Kayla also threw down a flag on the rumor.
“Do I look like anybody that would split anything?” Kayla asked on an October 2024 episode of Angel Reese‘s Unapologetically Angel podcast. “No, this is the question. Do I look like I would go 50/50 on bills?”
Is Kayla Nicole single?
Between juggling her podcast The Pre-Game, launched with Dear Media in April 2025, and other gigs—like her winning turn on Special Forces—Kayla is on the hunt for her ideal teammate.
“I am like John Cena now with men,” Kayla, detailed on her podcast April 3, responding to a fan question about her dating life. “You don’t see me. You don’t see me with a man. And you won’t ever see me with a man ever again until I’m married with kids.”
That’s her game plan, and she’s sticking to it.
“I am out here dating and hiding,” Kayla insisted. “I’m the queen of a private room in a back room in a corner closet. And I have no shame in it.”
Her ex, meanwhile, wants the world to know that Taylor is his, his, his, his lover. They’ve loved each other three summers now, and we’ve documented ’em all.
