The Skinnygirl CEO and former Housewives star has a knack for inserting herself into A-list celebrity drama and immediately taking on a barrage of backlash.
On Feb. 16, a few days after the Super Bowl, Bethenny compared her past relationship to Taylor Swift and Travis’ relationship. It was a cautionary tale of dating a “peacock,” and the fans were not happy about it.
Bethenny applied her makeup in an Instagram reel, admitting, “I once dated a guy like Travis Kelce. It just hit me.”
“He loves to be the center of attention and life of the party,” Bethenny said.
She described the guy as “big, burly,” “charismatic,” and “needed the attention.” Ultimately, she said he was “very passionate, very larger than life,” possibly implying these are similar characteristics of Travis.
Bethenny expressed this ill-fated ex “craved everyone liking him, everyone knowing him,” and “being in the center of attention.”
According to Bethenny, “it’s all fun and games” until your relationship gets serious because of “kids and marriage,” and then it’s anything but easy.
“It’s hard because Taylor Swift is certainly a peacock,” Bethenny said. “So there usually can only be one peacock in a relationship.”
“Here, it seems like Travis is the peacock, which is completely ironic. I could never be in a relationship with someone who needed to stand. up and grab the microphone and sing and scream ‘Viva Las Vegas.'”
Bethenny’s comments against Travis were immediately met with backlash from fans defending Travis and Taylor’s relationship.
When Ed Kelce, the patriarch of the Kelce clan and father of the Chiefs tight end, discovered Bethenny’s comments in a Newsweek article he posted on Facebook, asking, “Who TF is this troll?”
Instead of keeping it moving and minding her business (no surprise there), Bethenny responded to Papa Kelce’s comment on a Monday episode of her Just B with Bethenny Frankel podcast.
“Travis Kelce’s dad called me a troll,” she began. “I do actually understand and admire a parent coming to their child’s defense, particularly when asked about it. I just wish he would have expressed an opinion versus just a verbal insult, because, you know, as we teach our kids, it’s better to express yourself than to just criticize.”
“I was saying usually there’s only one peacock in a relationship, and I dated a guy like that— that was very over the top and very loud and gregarious and like needed to be the center of attention,” Bethenny explained.
“And I stand by that. I think that’s who Travis is. I did not mention him pushing his coach, which is a physical expression versus using your words and having a conversation, which is kind of like what his dad did.”
“He used an insult instead of using his intellect,” Bethenny continued. “So, the Swifties can come for me, but I’m going to defend myself. I have said that they were in my Mount Rushmore of couples, the two of them. I mean, they’re on top of the world. They’re both very successful. I’ve said that I literally think he’s a peacock, and there are two peacocks in this relationship, and it usually doesn’t work.”
Bethenny compared Papa Kelce inserting himself into the conversation after someone called his “big, burly” son “very loud” and “gregarious” to the drama on the Bravo reality show. “It’s sort of like the kids getting into the drama on the Housewives, or the husbands,” she said. “It’s just a little absurd, but it’s making headlines; so sorry, not sorry.”
Check out the full episode of Bethenny’s podcast.