Whenever Taylor Swift is involved in interpersonal drama, everything about it becomes notable. Case in point, the singer is currently dating NFL player Travis Kelce, and when his ex Kayla Nicole unfollowed his teammate Patrick Mahomes and Patrick’s wife Brittany Mahomes on Instagram, people took notice. A lot of the coverage of Nicole’s social media activity noted that the change came after Brittany was spotted hanging out with Swift and that Nicole and Brittany were known to have been close. Nicole even attended Brittany’s bachelorette party and baby shower.
Now, Nicole has spoken out about why she unfollowed her friend and that friend’s football player husband. Read on to see what she had to say.
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Reports began to surface last month that Kelce and Swift were seeing each other. Then, on Sept. 24, Swift attended a Kansas City Chiefs game and rooted for Kelce alongside his mother, Donna Kelce, in the family’s suite. Since then, the two have been seen out together regularly, and Kelce even made a cameo in a sketch about their relationship during on a recent Saturday Night Live.
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Kelce and Nicole, a fitness content creator, dated on and off for five years before breaking up in May 2022. Earlier this month, Nicole unfollowed Brittany and Patrick Mahomes on Instagram and made headlines for doing so amid Kelce beginning to date Swift, as well as Swift hanging out with Brittany. There was speculation that Nicole was bothered by her former friend getting cozy with her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend. According to Us Weekly, Nicole also unfollowed Patrick’s brother, Jackson Mahomes. Brittany, Patrick, and Jackson all still follow Nicole on Instagram.
In a new interview with People, Nicole explained that she thought it was important to “publicly address this because I did publicly unfollow people.”
She explained, “The reality is I know these people in real life. And so, in real life, I’ve communicated to these people why I’ve had to publicly make the decisions that I made.” She added that she and Brittany “have had [their] conversations” and that Brittany “knows that [she] love[s] her.”
“To everyone it’s like, ‘Oh, you broke up a year ago,’ and that meant it’s like a light switch, you turn it on and off and everything goes dead and black and you don’t ever speak to anyone ever again,” the 31-year-old said. “That’s not reality. I have ongoing relationships with all parties involved.”
While Nicole did not refer to Swift or Kelce by name, she did seem to reference their whirlwind romance.
“That’s a lot of history and friendship there, that doesn’t change overnight,” Nicole told People. “But publicly, because things are happening so quickly and so publicly, I have to protect myself. That’s really all that is. The love is still there.”
She continued, “I have to move forward and everyone has to respect that. And hopefully when they respect that, that means that they’re no longer inserting me into things that do not involve me.”
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As reported by The Daily Beast, in a video posted on Instagram on Oct. 9, Nicole responded to backlash and attention she’s received, seemingly in relation to Kelce and Swift. Kelce’s ex was getting comments on Instagram about Swift, including comments that compared the two women.
At the start of the video Nicole says that it’s been important to her to use her platform to “elevate and unite women, Black women specifically.” She then goes on to read an open letter she wrote.
“Dear Black girl, They may call you a traitor for falling in love,” she continues. “You’ll hope the ones closest will protect you. But you will quickly find out that people don’t protect what they don’t value. They’ll say you’re too much … and in the same breath, tell you you’re not enough, not successful enough, not wholesome enough, maybe not even intelligent enough. They’ll say you deserve the backlash and embarrassment. Because of your Blackness, you should’ve known better. They’ll even try to tie your value to your net worth. But Black girl, please remember your value lies elsewhere.”
She added, “You don’t have to participate in this tumultuous often one-sided journey. Preserve your heart … You do not have to engage. You don’t have to respond, because there is power in your silence.”
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