Inside The Lavish Life Of Travis Kelce's Ex-Girlfriend Kayla Nicole
For Travis Kelce's ex, Kayla Nicole, Instagram has been the key to unlocking a lavish lifestyle. It's also how she met Kelce, who caught her attention by liking her posts. When the couple permanently ended their relationship in 2022 after almost five years of living the good life together, the funding of that lifestyle came under scrutiny.
A MediaTakeOut report claimed that Nicole's tight-end ex was a tightwad who used money as a means of proving to himself that he wasn't dating a gold digger. "[Nicole] had to pay half of everything," a source said. "Half of every date, every trip, everything." Kelce denied this on "The Pivot Podcast," calling the rumor "ridiculous." He also said of Nicole, "I would never say that I was supporting her. She had a very financially stable life." He wasn't lying — Nicole's work history and Instagram grid are proof she's perfectly capable of supporting herself. Nicole is a Pepperdine University grad who has worked as a sports and entertainment journalist. In a reel of her work, she showcases her versatility by covering the retirement of Kobe Bryant's jerseys for Lakers TV and interviewing Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler for Global Grind.
Nicole is also an entrepreneur and massively successful social media influencer with a passion for fitness and fashion. If you give her Instagram a scroll, you'll realize that the transition between her pre- and post-Kelce years is seamless; the NFL player is gone, but the luxury remains.
Kayla Nicole's life during the Travis Kelce era
When Esquire compiled a list of the best-dressed attendees of the 2018 ESPYs, Kayla Nicole and Travis Kelce made the cut. But Nicole arguably outshone her date in a silver lace gown with a plunging neckline and high thigh slit. In addition to regularly attending red carpet events, the exes also loved to travel. It was something they did after the Kansas City Chiefs lost the Super Bowl to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2021. "Me and my girlfriend, Kayla [Nicole], jumped ship to Puerto Rico just to get away and have a weekend to ourselves," Kelce told Complex.
On Nicole's Instagram page, some evidence remains of the trips she went on while dating Kelce. There are photos of Nicole showing off her cute Coachella outfit, posing on the beach in Turks & Caicos, and meeting the famous porcine inhabitants of the Bahamas' Big Major Cay, which is also known as "Pig Beach." She and Kelce also attended Paris Fashion Week together in 2019.
Nicole spent big on clothing and skincare while she and Kelce were a couple. She wore apparel from high-end labels such as Gucci and owned at least one pair of Louboutins. Her beauty routine included two famously expensive La Mer products, of which she said in a vlog, "I know, I know. I've turned into a skincare snob." But getting paid to model Rihanna's Fenty lingerie probably served as a soothing balm for that sticker shock.
She doesn't need an NFL pro beau to thrive
Since her split from Travis Kelce, Kayla Nicole's partnerships with companies, including Champs, Corona Fresca, and True Religion, have kept her busy and booked. Being so in demand with so many brands is helping to fund her extravagant lifestyle. While speaking about her influencer gigs on the "Behind the Likes" podcast in 2024, she shared, "It's so easy to get comfortable in that. The money is insane." So, it should come as no surprise that Nicole hasn't stopped jet-setting and creating high-quality Instagram content in locales such as Tulum and the Cayman Islands. In a love letter to life, she mentions some other places she's visited. "I've relished in love buried deep in the grains of white sand beaches," she writes. "I've seen love up close in an Italian countryside, dance halls of Jamaica, and fireworks over the Caribbean Sea."
Nicole really gave herself the royal treatment while celebrating New Year's Eve in 2023. On Instagram, she revealed that she didn't just sip on champagne during an outing with friends; she also did "caviar bumps" by spooning the delicacy on the back of her hand and licking it off. Nicole has also used some of her wealth to reinvest in herself. On "Behind the Likes," she revealed that she has enrolled in an acting class and is also working on an apparel line. "That's been a passion project of mine for a really long time," she said.