When his last birthday came around, a 34-year-old Travis Kelce was riding the wave of his new romance with Taylor Swift a few weeks after the pop megastar set the internet ablaze by watching one of his Kansas City Chiefs games for the first time.
And as he turns 35 this weekend, the Chiefs legend is still very much riding that wave.
Not only is he considered by many the greatest tight end in NFL history, but Kelce now stands tall as one half of the most famous celebrity couple on the planet, as well as a promising rookie in the world of TV.
Despite becoming another year older – and even facing calls to retire amid his sluggish early form for the Chiefs last month – there is also still plenty of history for him to chase on the football field this season.
So with the Swift relationship still going strong, his new career on the small screen taking off and a record-breaking third straight Super Bowl in his sights, DailyMail.com has taken a look at the state of play for Travis on his 35th birthday.
Travis Kelce is still riding the wave of his romance with Taylor Swift as he turns 35 this weekend
The Swift effect
Given what he’d achieved on the field and his charismatic personality off of it, Kelce was already a household name in America before Swift came along.
Winning two Super Bowls, and one of them against his own brother in unprecedented circumstances, as an integral member of Kansas City’s offense meant the tight end was a well-known figure even to casual football fans.
But his relationship with the songstress has catapulted him to even greater heights.
Kelce had just under three million Instagram followers before Taylor arrived at Arrowhead for her very first Chiefs game in September 2023. He now has just under seven million.
His award-winning New Heights podcast with brother Jason has also lived up to its name over the past year, recording a 170 percent increase in YouTube subscribers (2.42 million) and a 303 percent increase in Instagram followers (2.7 million) since September 2023.
Kelce is now one half of the most famous celebrity couple on the planet alongside Swift
His popularity has skyrocketed ever since the pop star first turned up at Arrowhead last year
Kelce is now at a new level of stardom, with his and brother Jason’s podcast benefitting from it
The NFL has also benefitted from the increased spotlight on Travis over the past year, with a record 202.4 million people tuning in to watch him celebrate with Taylor in Las Vegas after winning last season’s Super Bowl with the Chiefs.
On his 35th birthday, Kelce now stakes a claim to being one of the most famous figures in popular culture across the globe, transcending his stardom as simply an all-time great NFL player.
New ventures
Again, Kelce wasn’t exactly short of TV opportunities before romance blossomed with Swift.
It was nearly impossible to avoid him on your screen when tuning in to any major sports network in the US, with the three-time Super Bowl winner enjoying more commercials than hot dinners in recent years.
He had also starred as host of popular late-night comedy show Saturday Night Live in March 2023, almost a month after beating older brother Jason at Super Bowl LVII, before featuring on the program again along with Swift the following October.
However, as he turns 35 Kelce has a number of exciting ventures on both the small and big screen on the horizon.
The NFL icon has made his acting debut in Ryan Murphy’s new horror show ‘Grotesquerie’, which premiered on FX last week.
After failing to appear in the first two episodes, his character featured for the first time in the third on Wednesday night, which sent fans into a frenzy on social media.
Travis has also ventured into TV as he cashes in on his newfound status as a global star
The Chiefs player has made his acting debut in Ryan Murphy’s new ‘Grotesquerie’ horror series
Kelce also stars as the host of upcoming Prime game show ‘Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?’
While the commercials keep flooding in, and his acting career gets off the ground, Kelce is also set to try his luck at presenting in new game show ‘Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?’
The show, which premieres on Amazon Prime with three opening episodes on October 16, offers a fun twist on the popular ‘Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?’ series, in which contestants answered elementary school questions while being helped out by 5th Grade students in the hope of winning a $100,000 prize.
In Kelce’s edition of the show, celebrities will replace school kids on the panel and help contestants as they answer questions on a range of subjects from elementary textbooks.
Though just over two weeks before the first three episodes air on Prime, the opening trailer for ‘Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?’ was slammed as ‘beyond cringe’ by certain fans online.
The trailer showed the Chiefs star – who is being paid just $750,000 to host the show – laughing and joking with contestants and the panel of celebrities; which includes former NFL star Chad Ochocinco, comedian Nikki Glaser and media personality Lala Kent.
He has even landed a part in the upcoming sequel to iconic 1996 sports movie Happy Gilmore
Adam Sandler, who played fictional golfer Happy Gilmore, confirmed he will be in the sequel
If TV jobs weren’t enough, Kelce has also landed a role in the upcoming Happy Gilmore 2 movie.
Adam Sandler, who starred in the iconic golf flick back in 1996, recently confirmed the NFL great is set to join the cast for the highly-anticipated sequel, although it is unclear which part he will play.
Chasing history
While there is plenty on the table for him away from football, Kelce is still eyeing even more history in the sport with the Chiefs this season.
After winning a second consecutive Super Bowl – the first time a team has achieved that feat since the New England Patriots in 2004 – Kansas City has the chance to pull off an unprecedented ‘three-peat’ by going all the way again this season.
And as he reaches the final chapter of his NFL career, there are still numerous individual records for Kelce to break before he eventually bows out from the sport.
He smashed one of them last weekend in a much-needed strong performance against the LA Chargers, setting the franchise record for receptions after registering his 917th for Kansas City, taking him past Tony Gonzalez’s previous high of 916.
The Ohio-born man is fourth in the all-time receiving yards charts for a tight end, but needs just 356 to edge leapfrog former LA Chargers icon Antonio Gates into third place. Last season he had a total of 984.
Kelce has plenty still to achieve in the NFL as the Chiefs eye a historic third straight Super Bowl
Given he may not have too long left in the sport, it looks a push for him to move ahead of Gonzalez (15,127) and ex-Dallas Cowboys star Jason Witten (13,046) in first and second place.
Yet if he manages one more receiving touchdown for the Chiefs, Kelce will surpass Witten to have the fifth most in NFL history with 75.
Jimmy Graham (89), Rob Gronkowski (92), Gonzalez (111) and Gates (116) may be out of his reach in the top four positions, nevertheless.
Regardless, Kelce will be desperate to leave as great a legacy as he possible can in the NFL before hanging up his cleats.
Birthday celebrations
So how will Travis be celebrating his 35th birthday this weekend?
The Chiefs are not due to return to action until Monday night, meaning he can let his hair down ever so slightly on Saturday at his ‘Kelce Car Jam’ event in Kansas City.
The block party style event will showcase some of the city’s top vehicles, including some of Travis’ personal favorites, with tickets ranging from $87 to $387.
And untypically on his birthday in October, Travis will get to celebrate it with big brother Jason following his NFL retirement earlier this year.
This year he will be able to celebrate his birthday with brother Jason after his NFL retirement
Speaking to PEOPLE last month, Jason said about his younger sibling turning 35: ‘Well, that one’s actually gonna be really fun, because Travis’s birthday is October 5th.
‘So, I’ll be able to go in and celebrate his birthday with him — which normally, in season, we don’t get to see each other for that.’
It remains to be seen whether Swift attends the event with Kelce on his birthday amid the gap in her Eras Tour schedule, which is not due to begin again until October 18 over in Miami.
