NEW YORK (AP) — It began with a friendship bracelet. It concluded with an engagement ring.Taylor Swift, the pop superstar, and Travis Kelce,The soccer champion is married.
The engaged couple, both 35, shared the news ina collaborative post on Instagramon Tuesday. It marks the latest development in the couple’s romantic journey, which has lasted two years, included two Super Bowls, and an album announcement andthe highest-grossing tour of all time.
Here is a glimpse at several key moments in their relationship.
A friendship bracelet, undelivered
It began, appropriately, with afriendship bracelet.
It happened back in July 2023 when Kelce went to Swift’s Eras concert at Arrowhead Stadium, the home of the Chiefs.
After, on his “New Heights” podcastWith his brother Jason Kelce, he expressed being disappointed—his word was “butthurt”—that he couldn’t meet Swift and give her a bracelet with his phone number on it.
She doesn’t meet anyone, or at least she didn’t want to meet me, so I took it to heart,” he joked. The podcast asked on Instagram: “Does anyone know how to get a bracelet to @taylorswift13? … asking for a friend.
Drivin’ the getaway car
However, by September, Kelce suggested his work had yielded some progress. He refused to provide details during rumors, stating to a reporter, “It is what it is.”
It was evident, however, that something was taking place. Soon after, Kelce admitted he had invited Swift to a game at Arrowhead. “I put the ball in her court,” he mentioned on another talk show.
Swift accepted Kelce’s invitation, making an appearance that was visible to everyone.the Chiefs-Bears game,cheering beside his mother, Donna Kelce. The two exited the stadium in Kelce’s purple Chevelle “escape vehicle” — pardon the joke, but Kelce himself referred to it as such.
“Very bold,” Kelce remarked a few days later about Swift’s appearance, mentioning how much he enjoyed seeing her cheering beside his mother.
It marked the beginning of a lengthy sequence of Swift’s visits to Chiefs games. There was some online discussion about whether Swift was taking attention away from the football — whileThe NFL itself benefited from her fanbase.One day following the extravagant Los Angeles premiere of her “Taylor Swift: Eras Tour” film, she returned to Arrowhead.
Karma is the person on the Chiefs team.
And now it was Kelce’s turn to be the devoted fan. In November 2023, following a two-month break, Swifttook her tour to Argentina,where she altered the lyrics of “Karma” to honor her boyfriend. “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs, heading straight home to me,” she sang. Scott Swift, next to a smiling Kelce, cheered for his daughter’s new love interest.
When Time magazine named its Person of the Year, few were taken aback. In the Time interview, Swift discussed her relationship.
“This all began when Travis incredibly charmingly called me out on his podcast, which I found to be extremely intense,” Swift mentioned, noting that they had already been a couple prior to that initial appearance at the Chiefs game.
Not long after, the action was intensifying on the football field — indicating the Chiefs were heading to the Super Bowl. During the AFC championship game, the couple showed they were comfortable with whatever attention they would receive. In the middle of the field in Baltimore, following the Chiefs’ victory over the Ravens,Swift and Kelce kissed.I adore you,” Kelce stated. “It’s so intense, it’s almost humorous.
A competition spanning nine time zones
There was a single game remaining. Fans questioned:How would Swift handle itFrom her Tokyo performances to the Super Bowl in Las Vegas?
“This week has been the most amazing form of disorder,” Swift shared on Instagram.
Chaos, for sure. In one week of February 2024, Swift was at the Grammys in Los Angeles, flew to Tokyo for four shows, then hopped back on her private jet to attend the Super Bowl.with time to spare.To reach her destination, she traversed nine time zones and the international date line.
She’s rewriting the history books on her own,” Kelce said a day after the Grammys, where Swift won album of the year for the fourth time. “I told her I’ll have to fulfill my part of the deal and bring home some awards as well.
And he did. The twokissed on the field once moreAfter the Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers, Swift was wearing her “87” necklace.
On the road again
Shortly after, Swift was back on the move, with Kelce accompanying her to Australia for some cuddles with koalas at the zoo.
In Paris, Swift performed a portion from “The Tortured Poets Department,” her latest album. Fans speculated whether Kelce had found his way into some of the song’s lyrics — such as “You knew what you wanted and, boy, you got her,” from “So High School.”
But the standout moment occurred in June, during a star-studded series of concerts in London. There,Kelce appeared on the Eras stage for the first time,wearing a tuxedo and bowler hat while holding Swift close during a planned sequence before “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.”
“I’m still laughing/being swooned,” Swift wrote later on Instagram.
Joy and amusement and wonder
Regarding Kelce, he expressed pride in the relationship, mentioning on the “Bussin’ with the Boys” podcast that he had no intention of keeping anything secret.
That’s my girl,” he said. “That’s my lady. I’m proud of her.
Swift conveyed that feeling when shewon an MTV Video Music Awardlast September, yelling “my boyfriend Travis” during her speech.
“Everything this individual interacts with becomes joy, entertainment, and enchantment,” she stated.
I’m just a guy backing his girlfriend
During the summer and fall of 2024, Kelce participated in several of Swift’s remaining concert events and spoke about her on “New Heights,” publicly calling her “his girlfriend” in a July episode.
“She is exactly what everyone says she is. She’s incredibly amazing. Sometimes you meet people and you just think, ‘I don’t know why I’m here,’” he said. “You are incredible, your talent is incredible, how you carry yourself is incredible, and I’m just a fool supporting his girlfriend.”
Swift was also frequently seen taking in Kelce’s games — includingthe 2025 Super Bowl.
Lights, camera, action, football
One month after the Super Bowl, the couple appeared on the red carpet at Tight End University in June, a three-day annual training summit established by Kelce, George Kittle, and Greg Olsen.
They were later seen at Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville, where Swift joined the stage to perform “Shake it Off” withcountry singer Kane Brown.For followers, it represented yet another instance of the pair demonstrating open and visible appreciation for each other.
The Story of a Stripper
A pair that works together, remains together.
Swift revealed her much-anticipated 12th studio album,The Life of a Stripper,In mid-August, Kelce was part of the rollout. It started with a hint from “New Heights,” which later disclosed that Swift would be featured in an episode the next day.
Swift mentioned to the Kelce brothers that she wanted to show them something, unveiling a mint-green suitcase adorned with her initials.in orange.Jason Kelce inquired what was inside, causing her to retrieve a vinyl record.
‘Our jobs are very similar’
In the two-hour “New Heights” episodehighlighting Swift, she discussed the couple’s summer after the Super Bowl. She mentioned that she spent a significant amount of time in Florida with Travis Kelce. She also noted, “our jobs are quite similar”: they both involve entertaining “audiences for three hours in NFL stadiums.”
On her self-described “favorite podcast,” Swift attributed meeting her boyfriend to “New Heights.” “This is somewhat what I’ve been writing songs about hoping would happen to me since I was a teenager,” she remarked about their relationship.
And Kelce gave the tour credit for, well, landing him a girlfriend. “I see you on that stage and see how you can get an entire stadium going, and then I get you in a room and it’s like I’ve known you forever,” he said. “It’s the easiest conversation I’ve ever had, and it was just so much fun that it blew my mind.”
Jock, meet writer
In late August, in a five-photo slideshow posted to both Swift and Kelce’s official Instagram accounts, the coupleannounced their engagement.“Your English instructor and your physical education teacher are tying the knot,” she wrote in her post.
It is uncertain when or where the two became engaged.
