It’s been almost a year since Taylor Swift’s worldwide Eras Tour came to a close, but we’re still finding ways to look at it in a new light. The recent release of Swift’s twelfth album, The Life of a Showgirl, is definitely reframing things, by showing fans what her headspace was like during the tour’s European leg.
If that wasn’t enough, Swift’s interviews for Showgirl is giving her a chance to share stories about the Eras Tour firsthand… including one involving her now-fiance Travis Kelce that is basically breaking the Internet. During a recent appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Swift revealed that she and Kelce would often debrief after Eras Tour shows about what happened in the VIP tent. When the tour was in London, Kelce was especially excited to meet his “favorite director,” Greta Gerwig (a detail that already has Swifties shook, and eagerly awaiting his opinions on Gerwig’s work on Lady Bird and Little Women).
“He was like, ‘Oh my God, I really want to tell her how funny I thought Barbie was,'” Swift shared. “And I’m like, ‘You absolutely should. She’s the sweetest, giggliest person to tell that you like their work. You’re gonna love her.'”
But apparently, after the post-show debrief, Kelce admitted that he didn’t think his interaction with Gerwig went well, after he cracked a joke about how he’s “just Ken” and she politely nodded. He then shared his surprise at how close Gerwig and actor Hugh Grant appeared to be in the VIP tent, to the point where he thought they were “soulmates.”
Mistaken Identity?
This story, understandably, confused Swift… especially once she scrolled social media after the London shows and saw a viral video of Kelce and Gerwig singing and dancing together in the VIP tent. As she told Meyers, “I’m seeing all over the internet, it’s just videos of Travis dancing with Greta all night like they’re best friends. And I’m like, ‘Travis, here’s a video of you with Greta. It feels like she thought the joke was funny?’ And he goes, ‘Oh that’s… that’s not Greta.'”
As it turns out, Kelce mistook Grant’s real-life wife, Anna Eberstein, for Gerwig… and she did not want to correct him. Swift apparently asked Kelce, “Is there any chance at all, baby, that you complimented Hugh Grant’s wife, Anna, on her movie Barbie, said ‘I’m just Ken too,’ and she politely nodded because she didn’t have the heart to tell you she didn’t direct it? And is there any chance the people that look like soulmates are Hugh Grant and his soulmate?”
In the hours since Swift’s interview with Meyers went live, this story has had fans captivated on multiple levels. Beyond just Kelce’s personal fandom for Gerwig, and the idea that he and Swift gossip about the shows he attends, the anecdote adds new context to one of the Eras Tour’s many viral moments. The video of Kelce and Gerwig singing and dancing together exploded in the summer of 2024… not just because of the two of them, but because of the other people who were also in the VIP tent.
A part of me has never stopped thinking about Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie’s wildly different energies in that video: Cruise is vibing to the songs and looks absolutely elated to be there, while McQuarrie appears to be on the verge of disassociating. (Maybe he was just preoccupied thinking about the work he still needed to do on Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.) Now that we know about Kelce and Gerwig’s unlikely friendship, that snippet of the tour is even more delightful.
(featured image: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)
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