Jason Kelce has opened up on his ‘whirlwind’ rise to stardom, joking that it’s become ‘harder to go out’ now he’s a fully-fledged celebrity.
The Philadelphia Eagles center is a 12-year NFL veteran and Super Bowl winner but his fame has exploded in the last year.
Kelce is co-host of the hit ‘New Heights’ podcast alongside brother Travis, the star tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Their show has entered the mainstream in the last few months because of Travis’ relationship with pop superstar Taylor Swift, which has made both Jason and Travis household names.
Kelce was also a finalist in People Magazine’s 2023 edition of sexiest man alive and the brothers have also teamed up to release a Christmas song, titled ‘Fairytale of Philadelphia’, which rocketed to No 1 on iTunes.
Jason Kelce has joked that it’s become ‘harder to go out’ now he’s a fully-fledged celebrity
Jason and Travis Kelce’s ‘New Heights’ podcast has received a raft of new listeners recently
During the Eagles’ bye week, Jason was a guest on Prime’s Thursday Night Football coverage
He was also the star of his own Amazon Prime documentary, aptly titled ‘Kelce’, which followed him through last season as he considered whether or not he would retire from American football.
That has garnered a whole new raft of viewers in the past few months and – because of the Swifties boost – became Prime’s most-watched documentary ever in the US.
Speaking about his celebrity status, Kelce admitted his life has changed but he’s trying to ‘stay grounded’ with it.
Jason’s wife – Kylie – has been quick to clarify that she has no bad blood with Taylor Swift or the attention surrounding the family
‘I don’t know. It’s been a whirlwind,’ the 36-year-old said.
‘It kind of started last year with the podcast and everything and it’s continually built up more and more from the Super Bowl and my brother’s love life and People magazine. Shout out to People magazine. I think it’s continued to get more and more.
‘You just kind of take it one day at a time. You just try to stay grounded with it, you try to be realistic about it and you just try to keep being the same person you are.
‘Harder to go out. Went to the airport. That’s more difficult now than it used to be. But outside of that, I think you just try and keep doing what you’ve been doing. Obviously, something’s working.’
Despite Jason’s stardom, his wife – Kylie – has been quick to clarify that she has no bad blood with Swift or the attention surrounding the Kelce family.
While being front and center may not be Kylie’s ‘cup of tea’, she set the record straight on a headline that said she was trying to ‘avoid’ the Swift spotlight.
‘Go watch that video,’ she said in a TikTok video posted on Wednesday with the respective article in the background, encouraging fans to view her original interview in its entirety for context.
‘I said it’s not my cup of tea to have attention on me. I didn’t say that. That seems like a stretch to me. You’re reaching!’
The article quoted comments Kylie made when questioned about the recent attention her family has attracted due to her brother-in-law’s new romance during an interview with Spectrum News.
Jason and the Eagles beat Travis and the Chiefs in their Super Bowl rematch on Monday night
‘It’s not particularly my cup of tea to be in the spotlight or in front of a camera,’ Kylie said Sunday after hosting a field hockey clinic in Kansas City.
The mother-of-three, who married Jason in 2018, was actually appreciative of the attention her family has received in recent months, acknowledging that it allowed for more notoriety for her field hockey clinic.
‘At the end of the day,’ she shared, ‘if it creates opportunities like this where we can leverage my network and figure out how to impact a community that has been so, so kind to the entire Kelce family, I am so happy to be able to give back to Kansas City in this way.’
She added that she was a communication major in college, saying of the cameras: ‘I love to be behind it, that’s my bread and butter.’