Kayla Nicole, who had a five-year on-and-off relationship with Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce, broke her silence on the scrutiny she’s facing in an open letter to Black women.
Shared on her Instagram on Monday (Oct. 9), the statement tackled the public backlash she’s endured, notably since rumors of Kelce’s new liaison with pop icon Taylor Swift began to circulate.
“It’s always been really important for me to use my platform not to create division but to elevate and unite women — Black women specifically,” Nicole opened.
She continued, “Dear Black girl, they may call you a traitor for falling in love. 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, too provocative, too boisterous, too outspoken, and in the same breath, tell you that you aren’t enough.”
The recoil reached a fever pitch after Swift attended one of the Kansas City Chiefs games that Kelce was playing at. Nicole revealed she’s been the target of derogatory comments, many focusing on her race. “They’ll say you deserve the backlash and embarrassment because of your Blackness; you should’ve known better,” she expressed.
She further urged her audience not to succumb to the societal pressure. “You don’t have to participate in this tumultuous, often one-sided journey. Preserve your heart, even when they try to quantify your character and test your boundaries. You do not have to engage,” the model emphasized.
Notably, Nicole is not the sole ex-girlfriend of Kelce to allegedly face aggressive behavior from Swift’s fanbase. Maya Benberry, another former flame, mentioned she’s received death threats from ardent fans of the 1989 artist.
Benberry, who won Kelce’s dating reality show, critiqued the paradox of a positive star like Swift having such a vitriolic fanbase. “Swifties are aggressive, very negative, very hypocritical,” she told Inside Edition.