‘No Way He Looks Like That Without Tay’: Travis Kelce Barely Recognizeable as He Debuts New Look During Outing Without Taylor Swift
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce showed off his brand-new look at the 2025 8AM Golf Invitational, which took place between April 24 and 27.
Kelce, 35, along with his brother, Jason Kelce, and other celebrities attended the charity event held at the Wynn Las Vegas Golf Course. Images of the three-time Super Bowl champion at the charity event hit the internet soon after.
Pop singer Justin Timberlake, 44, hosted the fourth annual tournament to raise money for the American Skin Association. Team Timberlake defeated the squad captained by 23-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps.
8AM Golf, Wynn Las Vegas, and Golf.com also posted a recap video featuring Travis, Jason, Timberlake, former NBA player Blake Griffin, and others playing blackjack at the site after the golf rounds ended.
An X user tweeted two screenshots of Kelce from the 8AM Golf Invitational’s video. The photos were captioned, “The combination of the Tribeca hat, chain, beard nicely cut, AND the cardigan.”
The pics of Kelce sparked varied reactions from additional people on X. One social media user replied, “I almost didn’t recognize him.”
Several people expressed their admiration for Kelce’s changed appearance. One woman wondered, “Will I get canceled if I say he looks like a husband? A hot husband?”
Another admirer expressed, “He’s always been a hunk!!!!!”
A few mistook him for another popular actor writing, “thought that was Ryan Reynolds.”
Reynolds and Kelce appeared to be friends at one point but not so much since Kelce recently unfollowed him on Instagram amid reports of Kelce’s girlfriend Taylor Swift being pulled into court over the case between Reynolds’ wife, Blake Lively, and her co-star Justin Baldoni.
The co-stars of “The It Ends with Us” have filed lawsuits against each other, with Lively suing Baldoni and related parties for alleged sexual harassment and retaliation, and Baldoni suing Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and others for defamation.
Fans also brought up Kelce’s Grammy Award-winning woman, giving her credit for Travis’ glow-up.
“My mom used to pick out my dad’s outfits for important events. They were married 50 years. Something tells me Taylor dressed him right down to the cardigan. My dad was happy to let her, as I am sure Travis is happy to let Taylor. He looks good, no way he looks like that without Tay,” the Swift stan suggested.
The combination of the tribeca hat, chain, beard nicely cut AND the cardigan …. pic.twitter.com/vZjLy0uVr5
— nico
(@cowboyslikenico) April 26, 2025
Swift and Kelce made their relationship public in September 2023, when the “Shake It Off” hitmaker attended a Chiefs game at Arrowhead Stadium to watch her boyfriend’s team play the Chicago Bears.
“Shout out to Taylor for pulling up. That was pretty ballsy,” Kelce said about Swift’s Arrowhead appearance on a September 2023 episode of his “New Heights” podcast. His older sibling, Jason, serves as a co-host for the show.
Swift continued to attend Kelce’s football games throughout the 2023 and 2024 seasons, to the dismay of some NFL watchers who grew tired of seeing the Pennsylvania-raised musician constantly spotlighted during the live broadcasts.
Kelce reciprocated the support by attending multiple shows on Swift’s record-breaking The Eras Tour before and after they became a romantic couple. He famously made a surprise on-stage cameo at an Eras stop inside London’s Wembley Stadium in June 2024.
“I initially mentioned it to Tay,” Kelce said about popping up for the “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” segment of Swift’s concert, according to Variety. “I was like, ‘How funny would it be if I just rolled out on one of the bikes during the 1989 era.’”
Swift finally spoke out about dating Kelce in 2023 to Time magazine. She reflected on NFL cameras constantly finding her in the stadium suite as the action played out on the football field.
“I’m just there to support Travis,” Swift said in her 2023 Person of the Year cover story. “I have no awareness of if I’m being shown too much and pissing off a few dads, Brads, and Chads.”
The diamond-selling songstress admitted their connection began after Kelce talked about her on his podcast. They started “hanging out” soon after that public display of interest.
“We actually had a significant amount of time that no one knew, which I’m grateful for, because we got to get to know each other,” Swift explained.
She continued, “By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple. I think some people think that they saw our first date at that game? We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date.”
As of April 2025, Swift and Kelce are still together, despite talk of a supposed “Taylor Swift curse” affecting the success of the Chiefs after the franchise won back-to-back Super Bowls in 2023 and 2024.
Kansas City came up short in Super Bowl LIX in 2025 against the Philadelphia Eagles, as the headline-grabbing pair, sometimes referred to as Swelce, became a major talking point in the global media leading up to the big game on Feb. 9.