Kayla Nicole reflects on her open letter to Black girls and life post-breakup from Travis Kelce
After dating the Kansas City Chiefs tight end for five years, Kayla Nicole says she thinks she’s done with her “athlete stage.”
While Kansas City Chiefs fans are celebrating the team’s spot in the upcoming Super Bowl, Kayla Nicole — who dated Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce for five years until 2022 — doesn’t foresee herself dating any more athletes.
During an appearance on the “Beyond the Likes” podcast Wednesday, Nicole opened up about her journey following her public breakup with Kelce. While the entrepreneur and influencer does not believe in the stigma that “all athletes are the same,” she says they are not at the top of her list when it comes to dating.
“I don’t really need to go to any more sporting events because I have a jersey on with somebody’s name on the back. I did that; it was fun, [but] I’m good,” she told Winter and Chy, the podcast’s hosts. “I’ll never say never, but I fully wholeheartedly believe that I am out of the athlete stage.”
In October, Nicole penned an open letter to Black girls in response to the social media discourse surrounding her breakup from Kelce. In a video posted to Instagram, she shared an uplifting message of affirmation to her thousands of followers.
“Black girl […] you don’t have to participate in this tumultuous, often one-sided journey. Preserve your heart,” she said in the video. “Even when they try to quantify your character and test your boundaries, you do not have to engage. The rage of the world is loud. But Black girl, your God is louder, and your tribe is stronger. Your blood runs deeper and is filled with strength.”
At the time, rumors had been swirling about Kelce and Taylor Swift’s new relationship, and as a result, Nicole faced an onslaught of harassment online.
“I was just at a crossroads where I felt unseen and unheard, and I felt like everyone was kind of talking for me in one way or another,” she explained on the podcast. “I was put in the middle of this social media s**tshow of a situation, and it was like I wanted to address things directly, but I knew that if I didn’t do it in my way, on my terms, in my own time, it was going to be spun into something else. So, it was my little moment to just get some things off my chest without being too aggressive.”
Despite social media sharing mixed opinions about her “Dear Black Girl” video, Nicole emphasized how the third-person narration was a message directed to both herself and others. Understanding that her experience is not singular but simply amplified by her platform, Nicole was left feeling very proud.
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“I’m so happy with what I did,” she said. “For me, personally, it was just like a buildup, like I needed to say something because at the end of the day, […] I was keeping the peace for everybody else, but like, what about the peace within me? What about my peace when I lay my head on the pillow at night?”
Now, in this new season of her life, Nicole is focusing on tapping back into her broadcast journalism roots and building her health and wellness platform, Tribe Therepe. Shutting out social media has been a part of that journey.
“When it comes to the internet, I’ve just learned that in the long run, it’s a waste of my energy,” she said. “I turned off my comments recently; you can’t DM me anymore because people just talk crazy,” she told the hosts. “I’ve had enough. […] It’s a new year, and to be honest, it’s the same me, so in order for it to be a new me, I need to do some new things. That starts with protecting my peace.”
While Nicole built a community based on her transparency on social media, she’s setting boundaries moving forward. She even joked about keeping her next relationship so private that by the time social media sees it, she will be married and have a three-year-old child.
Ultimately, despite the drama that came from her last romance, Nicole is not letting societal pressure impact dating at 32.
“All of my relationships have been building blocks to mold me into the woman that I am now, and so when I meet the right person, I’m not starting from scratch,” she said, sharing the best dating advice she’s received since the breakup. “[Instead] I’m starting from this developed, evolved, confident, self-assured version of myself, and I’m more ready now to be a wife or a mother than I was before. I didn’t lose any of those things that I learned in the past; if anything, I’m bringing value and something new.”
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