It was a year ago this month that Taylor Swift confirmed her romance with American football superstar Travis Kelce as she sat alongside his beloved mother to cheer him on at the Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
As the women embraced in the corporate box, there were whoops of joy within the Swiftie sorority after weeks of speculation that their idol was dating Travis – the Kansas City Chiefs’ hunky, hairy tight end, and a multi-millionaire in his own right.
Many hoped he would be The One. But now, 12 months on, conspiracy theories over just what the nature of their romance is – or ever was – have been fuelled after a seemingly fake ‘contract’ outlining a strategy to manage their split by Travis’s Los Angeles-based public relations team was allegedly leaked online.
It was a year ago this month that Taylor Swift confirmed her romance with American football superstar Travis Kelce
Typed on Full Scope (the PR company) headed paper, no one glancing at it would have any reason to question its legitimacy at first, yet the firm insisted to me that it’s fake and told me that they have set their lawyers on the matter.
Indeed, Full Scope, founded by two Hollywood PRs, Jack Ketsoyan and Pia Malihi, took the step of issuing a statement, saying the leaked documents were ‘entirely false and fabricated and were not created, issued or authorised by this agency’.
A spokesperson for Full Scope, which also represents US heiress Nicky Hilton and singer Nick Carter, said they have called in lawyers, adding: ‘We have engaged our legal team to initiate proceedings against the individuals or entities responsible for the unlawful and injurious forgery of documents.’
Regardless of their denials, the false document has sent shockwaves not just through America, where Taylor and Travis had reached national sweetheart status, but across the globe, which Taylor herself has spent the past 18 months traversing on her billion-dollar Eras tour.
For many, the false document feeds into existing conspiracy theories, giving people ammunition to ‘prove’ what they’d thought all along – that the relationship is a sham. Indeed, it has reignited the conspiracist questions of whether their love affair, which has been perceived by some as over the top at times, could in fact be one big PR stunt.
The false document was a touchy subject with Travis’s publicists yesterday. The very thought that fans would question the veracity of the most talked about romance on the planet prompted Ketsoyan and Malihi to speak out.
And in a furious phone call late on Tuesday, one of many they made to me, Malihi made no secret of her disdain for the rumour mill.
Angry at how the story discussing the false document had been written for this paper’s online edition, in a raised voice she told me: ‘We have been trying to keep stories that the relationship is fake out of the media for a year now. And now this.’
It’s the first time anyone close to Taylor or Travis has addressed the unsubstantiated rumours circulating online since they began dating. Malihi later reeled off a number of US media outlets with which she has ‘close relationships’, and suggested if I wanted to have the same, I should be sure to toe her line.
The singer and her American footballer boyfriend celebrate Superbowl victory
There have, of course, been other apparent ‘clues’, which Swifties have fiercely debated. In July, some fans claimed to have spotted Travis telling Taylor to put on a public display of affection for the camera.
And in November last year, a video of her sprinting into Travis’s arms at the end of a concert in Argentina was accused of being fake since she did the same to her former love, British actor Joe Alwyn. To deduce their relationship could be fake on the back of that seems a stretch.
So where do Full Scope think the false document came from? They say their lawyers have made the discovery that it was created by a ‘college student’.
That would have been swift work, no pun intended. Ketsoyan told me earlier they only discovered the document’s existence that morning – less than four hours before their legal team revealed its provenance.
The saga began on Wednesday when the document appeared on Twitter – now X. It had previously been leaked to online forum Reddit, where followers said it was either a college project or made by AI.
Whatever the truth, it makes sensational claims. Outlining a plan to release an official statement at the end of this month – three days ‘post-break-up’ to ‘allow the initial media frenzy to settle and ensure clarity’ – it even names the date of the break-up confirmation: September 28.
It adds that the announcement will be ‘gracious, respectful and stress mutual respect’. Laying out what the statement would say, it continues: ‘Example: Travis and Taylor have decided to part ways after careful consideration. They both value and respect each other’s personal lives and appreciate your respect for privacy during this time.
A seemingly fake ‘contract’ outlining a strategy to manage their split by Travis’s Los Angeles-based public relations team was leaked online
‘They are both committed to their careers and personal growth. They remain friends and wish each other the best.’
The sham paperwork also states that the announcement would focus on Mr Kelce’s ‘personal growth’ by framing the break-up as a ‘natural part of life’. It would also highlight his commitment to his career and his ongoing achievements in the sports industry.
It also outlines a plan to ensure ‘broad coverage’ by issuing a press release to major media outlets.
While the Nashville singer’s team have yet to make any comment on the document, Team Travis were apoplectic about the inclusion, in a follow-up piece online, of quotes from Ketsoyan explaining how he had previously created fake celebrity romances.
In 2019, on an Australian podcast called The Quicky made by the women’s media company Mamamia, Ketsoyan said fake romances are generally put together if a celebrity has a film or new project to promote or to distract from bad publicity.
He admitted to staging at least two relationships during his career, having used them as a tool to distract the public from negative headlines.
While he didn’t name names, the Hollywood insider said it’s not uncommon for stars to sign a ‘love contract’, which requires them to ‘date’ for at least a year.
Ketsoyan explained that fake relationships were once used to cover up the fact a popular actor was gay, but now it’s all about generating buzz.
‘It’s to be able to sell the hype of it – whether a concert, album . . . or getting people to go to see the movie, it’s all about the hype at the moment,’ he explained.
He claimed that one minor female star got a ‘career boost’ out of such an arrangement and is now a ‘household name’ thanks to her year-long relationship with an actor.
Today, however, it seems Ketsoyan may wish he had kept his past secrets, well, a secret. ‘They are not relevant to the piece, they need to be removed,’ Malihi insisted to me, tersely, on Tuesday. ‘We have got publications in America following this and it is causing a lot of issues.’ Questioning my integrity, she then insisted that if I wanted to work with her in future, I should make the changes concerning Travis – or TK as she referred to him.
So what, theoretically of course, could both parties have ‘got out of’ a relationship?
Described as a ‘future hall of famer’ (suggesting Kelce, 34, would be included in a band of top NFL footballers post-retirement), Travis doesn’t have £1billion in the bank like Taylor. Earning £12million per year, he has amassed a fortune of £68million.
Their relationship has unequivocally enhanced his profile – and his podcast followers.
The show, named New Heights, which he does with his brother Jason, went from 1.5 million when it launched in 2022 to 11.2 million today. Indeed last week, they signed a deal with Amazon worth more than £80million.
Taylor has quickly immersed herself in the world of NFL, the American football league.
She took centre stage at the Superbowl in February and earlier this week, when the organisation released its promotional video for the forthcoming season, Taylor was the stand out star of the clip.
On Tuesday, in an interview with US chatshow The Rich Eisen Show, Travis told how Taylor ‘creates plays’ for him, meaning – rather astonishingly – she tells him where to run to once he catches the ball.
One sports expert tells me: ‘Imagine when David and Victoria Beckham were at the beginning of their relationship, she’s a Spice Girl and David is playing for Manchester United, and she’s in the Premier League promo video. And then let’s go back and imagine how one of David’s managers would feel if he came out talking about how Victoria was telling him how to do his free kicks, or take his penalties. They would be furious.
‘It is all very odd. It is so strange that they have let a singer be such a big part of the NFL. There has been a suggestion that the league are really happy that Taylor has made the game much more appealing to women.
Taylor has quickly immersed herself in the world of NFL, the American football league
‘And it did all run very smoothly, with the Kansas City Chiefs winning the Superbowl this year.’
As for the future, I’m assured that Taylor, 34, won’t comment on the nature of her relationship, or the sham documents.
Behind the scenes she has a tight-knit team of experts to help her control details of her private life – including a fearsome American publicist named Tree Paine.
Her personal management company, 13 Management, is run by her parents, Scott and Andrea, and brother Austin, who handle the finances of her major business decisions alongside her legal adviser.
Working for the singer since 2014, publicist Paine is a permanent fixture at her side at all major work events. She is described by my sources as ‘terrifying’ and ‘unwaveringly loyal’.
With striking flame red hair, she previously worked for Interscope records with stars including No Doubt, Snoop Dogg and Marilyn Manson before first meeting her now only client, Taylor, in 2007. She joined her full time before the release of the singer’s breakthrough album, 1989.
As for the next album, given Taylor’s penchant for basing her lyrics on her failed relationships, it might be the moment we finally learn the truth about just what’s behind TayTay and TK’s very public relationship.