Travis Kelce Wants Men To Be More Open About Their Mental Health: 'It's A Big Thing'

Travis Kelce is perhaps best known as a Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl champ, Taylor Swift's hubby, and the face of Tommy Hilfiger's Fall 2026 campaign. However, he's also an advocate for a noble cause: destigmatizing men's mental health. "It's a big thing for men to be able to talk and speak their feelings, especially to the ones next to them and be vulnerable in those moments," Kelce said about men's tendency to bottle up their feelings, one of the biggest health mistakes men don't realize they're making, during a training camp media session for the Kansas City Chiefs in August 2022 (via The Times of India).

In November 2022, Kelce took it a step further when he announced that he and his nonprofit organization, the Eighty-Seven & Running Foundation, were funding a grant to the University of Cincinnati Student-Athlete Health and Wellness to make sure that every student-athlete there could have the resources they need to take care of their physical and mental health.

As it turns out, the mission hit very close to home for Kelce, as he confessed that his own experience going from high school to college was a rough journey. Fortunately, however, he was blessed with a support system that helped him. "I'm at a place in my career where I'm able to share my experiences and lend resources to provide the university's student-athletes with the assistance they need to become the best versions of themselves they can be," said Kelce in a statement (via University of Cincinnati).

When it comes to raising awareness in men about how suppressing your emotions can impact your health, Travis Kelce doesn't just talk the talk. He has never been one to shy away from expressing his own feelings and dispelling the age-old myth that real men don't cry. Case in point: his big brother Jason Kelce's retirement speech in March 2024, wherein Travis wiped tears from his eyes as practically the whole world looked on. 

But that's not all. In November 2024, the big, burly athlete once again dispelled one of the top myths about men's health when he briefly broke down during a call-in appearance on the "Chiefs Kingdom Show" as he spoke about Eighty-Seven & Running and their partnership with Operation Breakthrough to create the Ignition Lab, a program that serves to bridge the gap for Kansas City youth after they leave middle school. "I was so fortunate that I had the people around me and the environment around me to make sure I was doing the right things," Kelce recalled, pausing for a moment to collect his emotions. "It's just been a beautiful thing because a lot of those kids that I was reading to in preschool are now in the Ignition Lab and doing great things with their lives."

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.