Maya Benberry parted ways with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce over six years ago, after the relationship they started during Kelce’s eponymous dating competition show shockingly foundered. Thrust back into the spotlight after her ex was spotted with mega-star Taylor Swift, Benberry says that fans of the singer have targeted her with harassment and threats—even as the life coach and marketing consultant expressed support for Swift.
Benberry and Kelce met when they both appeared on Catching Kelce, a reality dating series in which women from each of America’s 50 states vied to enter into a romance with the athlete. Benberry “won” the show, which aired in E! in 2016. But by 2017, the pair had ended their romance, with Benberry claiming in a series of since-deleted tweets that Kelce had been unfaithful.
That’s where the matter remained for the better part of a decade. Then Pandora’s box opened earlier this week, when Swift attended Sunday’s Chiefs game, seated in a box next to Kelce’s mother and leaving the stadium with Kelce at the end of the day.
It was a sight that seemed to fulfill the hints dropped by Kelce’s brother, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce. On a morning radio show earlier this month, Jason first said of his brother and Swift’s rumored relationship, “I think they’re doing great, and I think it’s all 100 percent true and I hope that this thing goes the mile,” before saying “Nah, I’m joking, I don’t know what’s going on.”
The former reality star, himself, has refused to confirm or deny a romance with Swift, saying on the podcast he does with his brother that “it is my personal life, and I want to respect both of our lives.”
But as Kelce profiler Tom Kludt notes, “Eagled-eyed Swifties have applied their characteristic scrutiny to ‘Mother’s’ new flame and combed through Kelce’s social media,” where they doubtlessly came across his long-ago liaison with Benberry, among other details. Was her mere existence what inspired them to target Benberry with their wrath? That’s unclear, but what we do know is that Benberry has been publicly supportive of Swift, even as she recalled some of her less happy memories of Kelce.
“Taylor seems like such a fun girl with a beautiful spirit, so I wish her the best of luck, but I wouldn’t be a girls’ girl if I didn’t advise her to be smart,” Benberry told the Daily Mail. “Only time will tell, but like the saying always goes, once a cheater, always a cheater.”
Unnamed sources “close to Kelce” denied the allegations to TMZ, saying that “the two only dated for a month after the show, and couldn’t publicly announce their actual split because of a contract they had in place with the network” and that “Travis never cheated on Maya.”
Benberry also praised Swift in an interview with Inside Edition this week, in which she said, “I don’t know Taylor Swift, but I’m a fan of her music.”
“I don’t feel any way about her dating Travis … She’s beautiful. She’s successful. We’re in two different lanes.”
Via X (formerly Twitter), she doubled down on those remarks after an odd kerfuffle over what Benberry says was an “accidental like” of a social media post critical of Swift. “Do you really think that I’m dumb enough to put out a statement as a girls girl and then go and like hateful comments?” she asked.
Apparently, Swift’s fans do think that, as they have sent her death threats, Benberry told Inside Edition. “Swifties are aggressive, very negative, very hypocritical,” Benberry told the program. “It’s really crazy to me that someone I think is positive and really nice would have such a negative and angry fan base.”
Folks who are familiar with the fandoms of Star Wars, Naruto, or BTS might find the reaction less surprising than Benberry does, as might anyone who is familiar with the current level of discourse on X. But Benberry is unbowed by the opposition, tweeting last night that “I learned a lot of lessons these past few days, but I don’t regret at all on speaking my truth.” As of publication time, that tweet has 76 responses, the majority of them negative.
