Kayla Nicole opened up about being caught in a “media storm” with her name being dragged into the news as the budding romance between her ex-boyfriend, Travis Kelce, and Taylor Swift continues to dominate headlines.
The influencer and model, who dated the Chiefs tight end, on and off from 2017-22, explained why she felt compelled to speak out in a candid open letter on her Instagram page, in which she addressed “backlash and embarrassment.”
“If you don’t follow me on social media, I posted a letter to Black women, specifically, in a lot of ways, talking to myself, but maybe also talking to the Black woman that needed to hear me — women in general,” Nicole, 31, said Wednesday while speaking on the Renaissance Woman panel at Advertising Week in New York.
“But, I wanted to specifically say Black women in my letter because I was caught up in — I work in social media, but this was, this was far beyond social media.
“This was just kind of like a media storm if you will and my name was being brought in it every day. My comments, my DMs were flooded by it and the narrative, I had no control over at this point.
“As someone who is a host, who wants to interject and wants to speak up, I found myself really just silencing myself, keeping the peace, keeping quiet, trying to make sure that everybody else in this scenario was OK, and I just kind of hit a point where I had to ask myself like, ‘OK, the silence that you’re keeping and keeping the peace for everyone else, but what about the peace within you?'”
That’s when Kayla realized she “had to say something in order to control take [her] own power back.”
“I had to say something and I’m proud of myself because I could have taken this moment and gone completely left,” she said, joking that she is a Scorpio zodiac sign.
“But it took a lot of introspection and really speaking to my inner child. I’ve been going to therapy, so speaking to my inner child, speaking to the woman that really just needed encouragement — and so, in this moment for me at least, I think that I was taking my power back simply by standing on my own two feet and just speaking my truth, which is, I’m a woman in today’s society.
“It’s hard, it’s judgmental, it’s critical, but at the end of the day, I’m a woman and I’m learning, I’m breathing and I’m healing, and it’s a transformative journey. I have a lot of eyes on me, but I feel like it’s not a singular experience. So, I wanted to really encourage myself, but any other woman that might feel the same way.”
Kayla, who is also an on-air host, did not name Kelce or Swift while explaining the video, which she shared to social media on Oct. 9.
In her video, Kayla encouraged other women not to “participate in this tumultuous, often one-sided journey” and to not “engage,” while explaining that her post was “not to create division, but to elevate and unite women.”
“They may call you a traitor for falling in love,” Kayla began in the video. “You’ll hope the ones closest will protect you, but you will quickly find out that people don’t protect what they don’t value.
“They’ll say you’re too much, too provocative, too boisterous, too outspoken, and in the same breath, tell you that you’re not enough, not successful enough, not wholesome enough, maybe not even intelligent enough.
“They’ll say you deserve the backlash and embarrassment because of your Blackness, you should’ve known better. They’ll even try to tie your value to your net worth.”
Kayla went on to explain that there is no need to participate in the negative and “give into this demoralizing and antiquated narrative.”
She received an influx of supportive messages from athletes, NFL WAGs, media members and celebrities, including singer Normani and LSU basketball star Angel Reese.
Kayla and Kelce, 34, dated for five years before they called it quits sometime in 2022 following a red carpet appearance together at NFL Honors in February of that year.
The All-Pro tight end is currently involved with Swift, having shot his shot with the 12-time Grammy winner on his “New Heights” podcast after attending her Eras Tour in Kansas City in July.
Swift has attended three Chiefs games this season, where she was seen cheering with his parents Donna and Ed.
The pair was photographed holding hands on two occasions when they stepped out together for dinner at Waverly Inn and were seen leaving the “Saturday Night Live” afterparty in New York on Sunday.