Travis Kelce may be a three-time Super Bowl champ, but even he can fumble a face or two.
On Wednesday, October 8, Kelce’s fiancée, Taylor Swift, sat down with Seth Meyers on Late Night and shared how the 36-year-old Kansas City Chiefs tight end accidentally mistook Hugh Grant’s wife, Anna Eberstein, for Barbie director Greta Gerwig during her June 2024 Eras Tour show at Wembley.
🎬 SIGN UP for Parade’s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬
“The most fun thing about having Travis out on tour is that he’d go to the tents and give me the tea afterward,” the “Actually Romantic” singer explained. “We’d do the debrief in the car. I was like, ‘I gotta let you know your favorite director is in the tent.’ He loves Greta Gerwig, he loves her movies.”
Naturally, Kelce was ready to shoot his shot. “He’s like, ‘Oh my God, I really want to tell her how funny I thought Barbie was,’” Swift, 35, recalled. “And I’m like, ‘You absolutely should. She’s the sweetest, giggliest person, you’re going to love her.’”
When the show wrapped, the NFL star came back with rave reviews. “He’s like, ‘This was the most fun tent — Tom Cruise was going crazy, Liam was as fun as Chris, Ashton and Mila were there, Hugh Grant was so cool…’” Swift said. “And I’m like, ‘Did you meet Greta?’”
“Yeah,” he told her. “I think I told an annoying joke she’s heard too many times.”
According to the pop sensation, Kelce proudly explained, “I walked up to her and said, ‘I loved Barbie. I’m just Ken too,’ and then I pointed to you.” Swift thought the joke was a slam dunk. “That’s such a solid line,” she told him — until he added, “She smiled politely but didn’t say much.”
🌹 SIGN UP for our The Bachelor newsletter to stay up to date on the latest Bachelor Nation news, exclusive interviews, episode recaps & more 🌹
That’s when the story started unraveling. Kelce said “Greta” spent the night dancing with Hugh Grant, and the two “kind of seemed like soulmates.” Swift was scrolling her phone at the time when she saw something interesting, videos of Kelce dancing with the real Greta Gerwig.
“I’m like, ‘Travis, here’s a video of you with Greta. It feels like she thought the joke was funny,’ and he goes, ‘Oh, that’s not Greta,’” she said, as the audience erupted in laughter. “Do the math,” Swift teased. “Is there any chance at all, baby, that you complimented Hugh Grant’s wife, Anna, on her movie Barbie, said ‘I’m just Ken too,’ and she politely nodded because she didn’t have the heart to tell you she didn’t direct it?”
Meyers chimed in that the bad news might be “a little face blindness,” but the good news was that Kelce clearly recognizes true love — “so at least he saw soulmates and knew they were soulmates.” Without skipping a beat, the studio broke into laughter and applause.
Swift’s Late Night appearance comes on the heels of her latest album, The Life of a Showgirl, which dropped October 3 and shattered nearly every record in its path — selling 3.5 million units in its first week, marking the biggest debut since Adele’s 25, according to The Guardian. It also broke Spotify’s single-day streaming record and set a new vinyl milestone with over 1.2 million copies sold.
As for Kelce, he’s back in full football mode. The pro athlete just wrapped a narrow 31–28 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars and is gearing up for their Week 6 matchup against the Detroit Lions on October 12. Despite calling the defeat “frustrating” during a recent New Heights episode, Kelce’s season stats still rank among the league’s top tight ends, and he’s expected to play this weekend at Arrowhead.