Kayla Nicole has increasingly made clear that she’s done being defined by her past relationship with Travis Kelce. Ever since their on-again, off-again romance (2017-2022) ended, the enduring label of “Travis Kelce’s ex” has followed her. On a recent podcast appearance, she stated, “One day—they’re going to have to stop calling me someone’s ex. I don’t know if that means I have to date someone else publicly, but they’re going to have to just let it go.”
She described the frustration of doing long interviews about her life, only to have the headline reduce her story to “She broke up with him and she’s still sad.”
In this attempt to reclaim identity, Nicole is sending a message: she wants people to focus on her achievements, her brand, her story—not just her past as a partner in a high-profile relationship. She’s pivoting toward entrepreneurship, podcasting (“The Pre-Game”), sport/media work, and distancing herself (verbally, at least) from the athlete-romantic narrative that once defined her.
But the challenge is real. The public and the media still regard her through the Kelce lens. In a sense, Nicole now occupies a dual role: emerging figure trying to stand on her own, and someone constantly referenced in relation to one of the NFL’s most visible stars. That tension is pulling at her public persona: wanting to be independent, yet still engaged in high-visibility moments tied back to the Kelce story.
Ultimately, whether Nicole succeeds in rewriting how she’s seen depends not only on her own narrative but also on whether the media and fans will shift the frame. Take control of your story is easier said than done when the story has already been written at least in part.
A Public Return with Shade and Subtext
Nicole’s recent public actions suggest she is not only building her identity, but also subtly reacting to the narrative around her breakup and Kelce’s new high-profile relationship. For example, during Halloween 2025, she posted a video of herself dressed as Toni Braxton, dancing to Braxton’s breakup single “He Wasn’t Man Enough.” Many fans interpreted the outfit + song choice as a pointed message about her former relationship.
In another moment, her Instagram Story at the 2025 Super Bowl showed her among fans of the Bears’ rival team, with captions such as “Where’s the bandwagon emoji?” and use of a diss-track soundtrack. Media interpreted it as playful but pointed shade directed at Kelce — signaling maybe she was “over” the relationship, but still signaling.
Her commentary about pet custody also sparked attention: during her podcast she revealed she took full responsibility for the two dogs she and Kelce adopted, noting a recent $2,000 vet-bill and reflecting: “I have dogs with the previous partner, and I got both the dogs.” Many took this as a passive-aggressive dig at her ex.
What’s interesting: the tone is mixed. On one hand she expresses self-growth and independence; on the other, the moves (costumes, stories, captions) seem to reference the past relationship in ways that keep it alive in public discourse. It raises the question: is this reclaiming or reliving? For Nicole, maybe both.
The Impact of Breakup + Media on Her Psychological Landscape
Breaking up from a highly-public relationship does more than change your relationship status. For Kayla Nicole, the breakup with Kelce and his subsequent pairing with Taylor Swift cast her once again into public comparison. On her appearance in a reality/show series, she admitted that going through a “public breakup … has been overwhelming.”
She also confessed to being subject to online scrutiny and criticism, in some cases from Swift’s fanbase and others who continue to reduce her identity to “he left me.” On one episode she recounted how interviews about her life get condensed to a headline “She’s sad, she’s devastated,” regardless of the content.
These experiences appear to have shaped her stance: she’s now said she is dating privately and avoiding public relationships to protect her emotional space. She claimed: “I am like John Cena now with men — you don’t see me. You don’t see me with a man and you will never see me with a man until I’m married with kids.”
The narrative shows the interplay between personal healing and public image. Nicole is redefining her “single season,” while contending with the fact her private life was deeply public, and her identity tied to her ex’s spotlight. It’s a reminder that when your relationship itself is high-visibility, the aftermath is not just personal—it becomes a brand challenge, reputation challenge, and psychological challenge all at once.
Career Moves, Brand Identity and the Pressure to Evolve
While much of the media focuses on her past romance, Kayla Nicole is actively building her own brand. Her career arc includes sports broadcasting, modeling, fitness entrepreneurship, and now podcasting. She has publicly declared that she’s moving away from “dating athletes” and the sports-romance narrative that boxed her previously.
In her fashion posts, she shows confidence and independence — powerful presentation for someone trying to shift public perception. Her posts at events, her voice on podcasts, all contribute to the repositioning: from “partner of” to “Kayla Nicole: creator, host, entrepreneur.”
Yet branding comes with its own pressures. The public still writes her story with reference to Kelce and Swift. The question becomes: will Nicole’s next chapter center on her work alone, or will the public continue to loop her back into the love-triangle narrative?
Her business decisions seem to reflect that she wants the former. But the pendulum of public attention may not swing easily. For celebrities linked with major figures, the prior narrative is sticky. The strategy for Nicole appears to involve a dual track: acknowledge the past (so it doesn’t own her) while emphasising present purpose and future direction. How well the media and public pivot with her may determine whether her new identity sticks.
What Comes Next — Choices, Limits and Legacy
Moving forward, the trajectory for Kayla Nicole will likely rest on three key choices: how she defines her story, how much she engages or repairs the past, and how consistently she delivers on her new-identity goals. She can continue to lean into bold public moments (costumes, social posts) that spark conversation; or she can shift to low-public-visibility work and let her brand grow quietly.
She seems to be choosing the middle path: visible enough to remain relevant, but increasingly committed to her own mission rather than a relationship narrative. For example, she’s spoken about being “tough” now, open to love but protective of it, and wanting to be known for more than one chapter of her life.
The risk: if the public still sees her primarily as “Travis Kelce’s ex,” then her success at redefining herself is limited. The reward: if she nails the shift and builds momentum independent of the past, she might unlock a legacy as someone who transitioned from high-profile partner to autonomous creator.
Ultimately, her story shows how celebrity relationships often become a branding hurdle just as much as a personal one. For Kayla Nicole, the challenge is not simply healing from the breakup, but transitioning from being in the spotlight of someone else to standing in her own spotlight. The real measure of her next chapter will be how she balances identity, voice and presence while the world still watches closely.