Travis Kelce’s ex Kayla Nicole may have endured a “Cruel Summer” without therapy.
The former Los Angeles Lakers reporter revealed to People why she’s “thankful” she went to therapy before the NFL star’s romance with Taylor Swift made headlines.
“I’m so thankful for therapy because had I not done that, I don’t know how I would be reacting in the moment right now. No clue,” she said in an interview published Tuesday.
The fitness influencer — who dated the Kansas City Chiefs tight end on and off between 2017 and 2022 — explained how their “major breakup” led her to therapy.
“I’m posting content and people are like, ‘You look so good. Tell us your tricks. You look amazing.’ And I’m like, ‘I’m miserable. I’m miserable. I’m depressed,'” Nicole recalled.
“My abs were amazing, I had a six-pack. And it was like, ‘I had never felt so bad in my life.'”
She continued, “So, I started going to therapy and quickly realized, OK, it’s one thing to be physically fit, but it’s another thing to be mentally fit.”
“You could be in the best shape of your life, but mentally, if you are not a healthy person, it’s not going to feel good.”
Now that Nicole, 31, is in a better place, she admitted that she would tell her past self to “buckle the f—k up” to prepare for the media frenzy surrounding Kelce and Swift’s relationship.
“You thought the worst had already come, but buckle up and take all of the tools right now and put them in your bag because you’re going to need them,” she said.
Follow Pvnew’s coverage of Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s whirlwind romance
- Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s dating timeline: From flirting fails to Chiefs power couple
- Travis Kelce’s dating history: Meet the Chiefs tight end’s girlfriends and flings
- Taylor Swift’s dating history: From Jake Gyllenhaal to Matty Healy
The Super Bowl champion, 34, and the Grammy winner, 33, confirmed dating rumors in September when the latter showed up to the Chiefs matchup against the Chicago Bears.
The two have been spotted getting closer ever since.
While Nicole has kept her thoughts on the romance to herself, she unfollowed Patrick Mahomes’ wife, Brittany Mahomes, on Instagram after she was photographed having a girls’ night out with Swift and her famous friends in NYC earlier this month.
She then shared a cryptic message about her gym time being equivalent to a “therapy session.”
The Tribe Therepe founder later issued an open letter addressed to “Black women specifically,” in which she fought back against the “backlash and embarrassment” she has been subjected to amid her ex-boyfriend’s highly publicized relationship with the pop sensation.
In the Instagram video, Nicole encouraged her followers to refrain from engaging in “this tumultuous, often one-sided journey.”
“Preserve your heart even when they try to quantify your character and test your boundaries,” she said. “You do not have to respond. Because there is power in your silence.”
Days later, she hinted at how she’s handling the media attention by posting a clip of herself boarding a plane with the caption, “Therapist: ‘You can’t keep flying away from your problems.'”
