Who Is Travis Kelce's Ex-Girlfriend? All About Reporter and Podcast Host Kayla Nicole
- - Who Is Travis Kelce's Ex-Girlfriend? All About Reporter and Podcast Host Kayla Nicole
Skyler Caruso, Nicole PomaricoFebruary 10, 2026 at 3:14 AM
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Travis Kelce and Kayla Nicole at the 2018 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Sports Awards
Rodin Eckenroth/FilmMagic
Travis Kelce dated Kayla Nicole on and off for five years
Kelce and Nicole ended their relationship in 2022
The NFL star is now engaged to Taylor Swift
Before he was engaged to Taylor Swift, NFL star Travis Kelce was dating Kayla Nicole.
The on-air reporter and Kansas City Chiefs tight end started dating in 2017 after connecting via Instagram. They were in an on-again, off-again relationship for five years before ultimately splitting in 2022.
Since, Nicole has made an effort to "move forward" with her life. However, in a 2026 Super Bowl ad for the brand Sleeper, Nicole appeared to shade her ex. In the spot, Tiffany Haddish and Ben Simmons starred as a team that helps people get “ex-communicated” after a high profile breakup with a celebrity.
“Simmons & Haddish promised me that they could put an end to this whole ‘ex-girlfriend’ fiasco quickly,” Nicole said in the ad, with Simmons chiming in that he'd actually said he'd end it all for her "swiftly."
So, who is Travis Kelce's ex-girlfriend? Here's everything to know about Kayla Nicole.
She graduated from Pepperdine University
Kayla Nicole Kayla Nicole/instagram
Nicole has had a passion for sports long before meeting Kelce and even went to school to pursue a career in the field. She posted a "friendly reminder" on her Instagram in 2018, letting her followers know that she graduated from Pepperdine University in 2013 with a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism.
"Hosting is where my heart is," she captioned a video of herself sporting a Lakers jersey while reporting from outside the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
She's an on-air sports journalist
Kayla Nicole Kayla Nicole/instagram
Upon graduating from Pepperdine, Nicole landed hosting gigs at sports media outlets including ESPN and Barstool Sports, among others. While she's created a name for herself reporting courtside on the NBA and on the sidelines for NFL coverage, Nicole has also covered entertainment news as well.
She interviewed Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler for Global Grind during their 2017 press tour for The House and Sterling K. Brown during his 2019 press tour for Angry Bird 2.
She met Kelce on Instagram
Travis Kelce and Kayla Nicole Amy Sussman/Getty
While it remains unclear when Nicole and Kelce initially met, Nicole previously revealed that they first connected through Instagram. "He had been following me and insta-flirting for a few months," she revealed in a since-deleted Instagram Stories captured by TMZ.
"All double taps and no dm. Soooo after a little liquid courage and a pep talk from @iqueenb (something along the lines of 'WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR') I dm'd him on New Years."
She had an on-again, off-again relationship with Kelce
Travis Kelce and Kayla Nicole Allen Berezovsky/FilmMagic
After their initial Instagram DMs, Kelce and Nicole started dating in 2017. In the years that followed, they broke up and got back together several times.
August 2020 marked the first time the couple split. Kelce confirmed the breakup news after fans speculated about their split when Nicole deleted pictures of the football player on her Instagram a week prior.
The confirmation came amid rumors that Kelce cheated on Nicole with a "Becky," which he denied in a now-deleted tweet. "This is fake news... a lie... and not why Kayla and I broke up," Kelce wrote on Twitter, per a screenshot from TMZ. "Take all your hatred somewhere else please."
A few months later, the pair got back together that November. Kelce confirmed their reconciliation when he referred to Nicole as "my girlfriend" during an Instagram Live with WNBA basketball player Chiney Ogwumike. "She's the best," Kelce said about Nicole. "She's the absolute best."
In May 2022, the couple broke up again. At the time, Barstool Sports alleged that the reason for their split was that Kelce forced Nicole to pay for "half of everything" while they were dating.
However, during an interview with The Pivot Podcast in January 2023, Kelce denied that he was "too cheap," adding, "don't buy into that s---." He continued, "I would never say that I was supporting her. She had a very financially stable life and what she was doing in her career."
He added, "But you've got to be crazy if you'd think I would never helped or gave her a couple thousand to grab some food or she gave me some money to go get some food ... we were in a relationship for five years. A hundred dollars here, a hundred dollars there wasn't even thought about."
She has her own fitness brand
Kayla Nicole
Kayla Nicole/Instagram
In October 2023, Nicole revealed to PEOPLE that she is "very excited" to be relaunching her fitness brand, Tribe Therepe, based on "feel-good fitness" by incorporating the tools she's learned in therapy into the workout routines she shares with her followers.
"It's focusing on the mental health component of working out, which is really, really important for me and really resonates with me, and really just encouraging people to mentally take care of themselves," she said, explaining, "I think that when your mind is in a healthy place, your body will follow."
Following her "major breakup" and "major life change," Nicole said that she "lost a substantial amount of weight within a very short amount of time" and wasn't sleeping or eating.
"I'm posting content and people are like, 'You look so good. Tell us your tricks. You look amazing.' And I'm like, 'I'm miserable. I'm miserable. I'm depressed,' " Nicole said. "My abs were amazing, I had a six-pack. And it was like, 'I had never felt so bad in my life.' "
She continued, "So, I started going to therapy and quickly realized, okay, it's one thing to be physically fit, but it's another thing to be mentally fit. You could be in the best shape of your life, but mentally, if you are not a healthy person, it's not going to feel good."
She won season 3 of Special Forces
Kayla Nicole in 'Special Forces'
Pete Dadds / FOX
Nicole and Brody Jenner were named the winners of Special Forces: World's Toughest Test during the season 3 finale, which aired in February 2025.
“I thought the most challenging part of this was going to be the physical, but the mental obstacles that you have to navigate on this course are by far the hardest," she said on the show. "The [Directing Staff] taught me the power of resilience. I can do a lot of really freaking hard things.”
She hosts a podcast
Kayla Nicole in 2024
Andrew Toth/Getty
The Special Forces alum launched her podcast, The Pre-Game, in April 2025 with Dear Media.
During her debut episode, Nicole answered a fan question about dating in the public eye.
"I am like John Cena now. 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," she said. "I don't think I ever want to publicly date another man until I am absolutely sure that they are my long-term person."
Nicole continued, "I want to protect the things that mean most to me."
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
