Travis Kelce has become one of the world’s most talked-about celebrities since he started dating Taylor Swift last summer, but the Kansas City Chiefs tight end has somehow remained sane through it all.
And in a new interview with Good Morning America that aired Thursday (June 6), Kelce explained how. “I’ve always been a very grounded guy,” he told the show’s correspondent Will Reeves, who asked him how he’s dealt with the public’s heightened interest in his personal life. “It might not come off like that when I’m playing football but off the field, I just want to be a genuine person.”
“When you have good family and friends around you, it makes that aspect in life that much easier,” he added.
The three-time Super Bowl champion also spoke about the new opportunities in the entertainment industry he’s been offered as his star has risen. (Case in point: The interview took place on set for a commercial Kelce was filming that day for an energy drink he invests in.)
“I try not to get too far down the road because you just never know what opportunities are going to present themselves,” said the athlete, who recently signed on to be the host of an upcoming Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? revival. “I’m so fortunate, so grateful of everything that come my way in life.”
Of dipping his toes into acting, Kelce — who will also star opposite Niecy Nash-Betts on Ryan Murphy’s Grotesquerie — said he feels “like an amateur right now, but I’m coachable.”
“That’s one thing I know from being in sports, I am a coachable guy,” he continued. “It’s just been awesome. Everybody involved in terms of the actors and the directors and the writers have just helped me out so much, understanding what I’m supposed to be doing. And I’m just having fun with it.”
“It’s definitely different portraying a character and trying to find the emotions in everything, and the understanding of a script and the scene,” he added. “But it’s a challenge.”
Watch Kelce’s GMA interview below.
