By now, the entire world knows that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are engaged and after the news broke, some wondered what the NFL star’s ex-girlfriend, Kayla Nicole, thought about it. That’s because Nicole had to go through something most people will never understand.

She dated the Kansas City Chiefs tight end on and off for five years. They broke up in 2022 before Kelce started seeing the biggest pop star on the planet. Nicole then had to watch, along with everyone else, as her ex’s romance played out in front of cameras. Not only that, but Nicole also had to deal with hate online from some Swifties who insisted on attacking her.

On Aug. 26, Kelce and Swift nearly broke the internet with the announcement that they are getting married. So what does Nicole think about the engagement news heard ’round the globe?

Well, she didn’t stay silent on social media and decided to put out a cryptic post that people are reading into.

Amid the Swift-Kelce engagement frenzy, Nicole took to her Instagram Stories and reposted a clip featuring actress Tracee Ellis Ross talking about “experiencing joy.”

“I work at it. I think joy is different from happiness,” Ellis Ross said. “I feel like happiness is something you can get at 7/11, and joy is something you earn and work for and takes practice. I feel like joy has legs.

“I feel like joy has feet, I feel like joy has roots, I feel like [joy] creates space and allows for room for more than just a good day. I think joy is an attitude. I think joy is a perspective, and I think joy is a lens through which I live and look at my life.”

Nicole then captioned the clip, “Read about this very concept years ago in a book called Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn’t Enough.”

On Feb. 5, 2025, Nicole was crowned one of the winners of the Season 3 reality TV competition Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test.

When speaking about how she prepared for the grueling challenges she had to endure, Nicole confessed that her split from Kelce and dealing with bullying from Swifties helped her through some of them.

“I’ve just gone through a public breakup and dealing with trolls or just hate online was difficult for me,” she admitted. “I’ve prevailed and I’ve pushed through. But, I took a hit to my confidence … It doesn’t matter, I could post about the sky being blue and people will have a response about an ex and their new situation. It’s inadvertently affected me to the point where it makes me question my overall value as a person.

“Dealing with hate online was difficult for me. You’re kind of left to fend for yourself, but now I kind of feel like I’ve made it through this little storm, and I came out on my two feet, and I know now that I have some tough, thick skin.”