Taylor Swift wants Travis Kelce to leave a blank space for new adventures.
Ryan Murphy—who directed the Kansas City Chiefs tight end in his forthcoming show Grotesquerie—shared the advice the Grammy winner gave her boyfriend when he signed on to act in the FX series.
“The only thing that [Travis and I] talked about was that she’s very supportive of him, and if he has an interest, she wanted him to try it,” Ryan exclusively told E! News at the Sept. 23 premiere of Grotesquerie in New York. “I was thrilled about that.”
After all, Ryan heard nothing but “sweet, lovely things” about Taylor, adding, “I love her, too.”
And when it came to working with the football player, the American Horror Story creator admitted Travis didn’t need any tips. As Ryan—who also created and served as a producer on the drama—put it, “A star is a star is a star—and he’s a star.”
“He’s so charismatic, and he’s so smart, he’s lovely,” he continued. “He had a window of time. He asked me to work up something for him. I did. It was an honor.”
And while Travis—who appears in the first episode of Grotesquerie alongside costar Niecy Nash—was a natural on screen, Ryan was equally impressed by how hard he worked.
“He knew everybody’s lines,” Ryan explained. “He had a great discipline, and he is everything you want him to be. He’s a leader, and so sweet and so charming, first on the set, last to leave, great team around him.” (For more from Ryan, tune into E! News tonight, Sept. 23, at 11 p.m.)
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In fact, Travis was able to work through his fear of being vulnerable in front of the camera.
“He went into that knowing it was going to be a little scary, and it was for him,” Ryan shared. “And one day, I rewrote a whole scene that I wasn’t liking, and he memorized it in 10 minutes—like that. It was letter perfect. Like, he’s very, very smart, and he’s got something important.”
As for what Ryan thinks the NFL star’s future in Hollywood looks like? The 58-year-old believes anything is possible.
“If Travis Kelce wants to be a big movie star, he could do it,” Ryan said. “You can see in the show, he can act. And he’s talented.”
He added, “The world is his oyster. He can do anything.”
Grotesquerie premieres with two episodes on Sept. 25 at 10 p.m. on FX and will be available to stream the following day on Hulu. While you wait, read on to revisit more moments from Travis and Taylor’s love story.
—Reporting by Emily Curl
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Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s love story began in July 2023, when the singer’s Eras Tour made a stop at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
As a huge Swiftie, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end caught the show with hopes of giving Taylor a friendship bracelet with his number on it. However, he failed to complete the pass due to her pre-show rituals.
“I was disappointed that she doesn’t talk before or after her shows because she has to save her voice for the 44 songs that she sings,” Travis shared on the July 26 episode of his New Heights podcast. “So, I was a little butt-hurt I didn’t get to hand her one of the bracelets I made for her.”
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After publicly recounting his fumble—a move Taylor would later describe as “metal as hell”—Travis decided to shoot his shot and invite the Grammy winner to watch the Chiefs play at Arrowhead Stadium.
“I threw it out there, I threw the ball in her court,” he shared on The Pat McAfee Show. “I told her, you know, ‘I’ve seen you rock the stage in Arrowhead, you might have to come see me rock the stage in Arrowhead and see which one’s a little more lit.’ So, we’ll see what happens in the near future.”
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Travis was rocking a mustache—which he debuted in August during training camp—when he was first introduced to Taylor.
As he later noted of the era, “That ‘stache and the 87 jersey was pretty iconic there for a little bit, and I had it when I met Taylor for the first time.”
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By early September, a source close to the situation told E! News that Travis and Taylor were “texting and talking here and there.”
“It’s been very low-key,” the insider explained, “as he’s been in season.”
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Accepting Travis’ invite, Taylor joined the athlete’s mom Donna Kelce at Arrowhead Stadium to watch him and the Chiefs take on the Chicago Bears. After the game, Taylor and Travis were seen packing PDA at a local bar.
Though folklore had it that it was the couple’s first in-person meeting, the “Karma” singer later clarified the two had spent a “significant amount of time” getting to know each other beforehand.
As Taylor noted, “We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date.”
