Taylor Swift Reveals Travis Kelce Relationship Timeline In New TIME ‘Person Of The Year’ Interview

Grammy winning singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has achieved the pinnacle of acclaim after a rigorous year in the spotlight full of tour dates, re-recordings, and NFL games. Swift was named TIME’s coveted person of the year, and gave a wide-ranging interview updating the industry and her fans about what is next in store for her career and the status of her personal life. In recent months, Swift has been spotted out and about with NFL Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

In the interview, the singer offered the first direct glimpse into her personal life in several years. Kelce famously revealed on his “New Heights” podcast he shares with his brother NFL Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce that he fumbled an attempt to give Swift a friendship bracelet with his phone number on it. The attempt was made when Swift took over his usual home base of Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.

Now, Swift revealed that she actually began spending time getting to know Kelce at the time of the podcast episode in July, and not at her first public appearance at a Chiefs game months later. “This all started when Travis very adorably put me on blast on his podcast, which I thought was metal as hell,” Swift told TIME.

“We started hanging out right after that. So we actually had a significant amount of time that no one knew, which I’m grateful for, because we got to get to know each other. By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple. I think some people think that they saw our first date at that game? We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date.”

The singer went on to explain that the “publicity” surrounding their relationship stems from their public support for one another’s careers. As Swift remains embroiled in her “Eras Tour” and Kelce continues to hit the field for the NFL on Sundays, the high profile pair frequently appear in the crowd cheering each other on.

“When you say a relationship is public, that means I’m going to see him do what he loves, we’re showing up for each other, other people are there and we don’t care,” Swift said. “The opposite of that is you have to go to an extreme amount of effort to make sure no one knows that you’re seeing someone. And we’re just proud of each other.”

TIME Moves Swift

Swifties across social media platforms were overjoyed to see their favorite singer achieve such a high honor. In regards to the relationship portion of the interview, fans were happy to see that the singer appeared to express that she felt supported and appreciated in her relationship with the NFL tight end. Swift and her ex boyfriend of six years, actor Joe Alwyn, reportedly broke up this past spring. Now, fans continue to criticize Alwyn for allegedly attempting to hide their relationship and appearing unsupportive of Swift by seldom appearing at her events.