Kayla Nicole is asking social media trolls to leave her alone after her post on social media was mistaken for a slight against Taylor Swift.
The backlash against Nicole, 33, started when the model (who dated Travis Kelce on and off for five years before his romance with Swift, 34) posted about feeling overwhelmed by all of the new music releases in the last month.
“There’s just no way I can fully digest all these new albums. I’m still on ‘Cowboy Carter,’ ” Nicole wrote in a post on X on April 18, in reference to Beyoncé’s recent Cowboy Carter album and just hours before Swift released her new album, The Tortured Poets Department.
“And you just happen to tweet about new albums on April 18th when you know very well what’s dropping tomorrow,” another account replied, referring to Swift’s April 19 release.
“Kayla has a right to her opinion on her music taste..but to think she isn’t subtly dissing TS and her album is ludicrous. Could you not have just said how much you like Cowboy Carter,” an additional user suggested.
Nicole ignored all of the responses to her tweet except for one — a since-deleted quote tweet that attacked her using explicit language.
In response, Nicole wrote, “You ok?,” Nicole wrote in a short-but-clear reply.
After she replied to the post, Nicole spoke out in a follow-up tweet on her timeline.
“I’m unproblematic. Mind my business. Never respond to the constant vitriol. Solid as they come & don’t expect a pat on the back for it either,” Nicole wrote. “Just know everyone has a breaking point & would love for ‘yall’ (because you know exactly who you are) to leave me alone.”
One account replied to the post, “You gotta log off sis…the internet is not real life.”
Nicole quickly reacted to that reply, writing, “I made 6 real life figures from being ‘logged on’ last year. And very thankful for it. A better suggestion — people that use this platform to spew hate — log out and focus on getting their mattress off the floor.”
Nicole and Kelce first started dating in 2017 before the couple officially called it quits in May 2022.
In October, Nicole spoke to PEOPLE about how therapy got her through “a major breakup and life change” last year, and how it’s helped her handle online trolls and negative attention amid her ex’s very high-profile relationship.
Kayla Nicole arrives at Smirnoff Celebrates Super Bowl LVI on February 12, 2022.Jon Kopaloff/Getty for Smirnoff
“Just full transparency, I went through this major breakup, major life change, and I had lost a substantial amount of weight within a very short amount of time. I wasn’t sleeping, I wasn’t eating. I was really abusing melatonin to sleep at night,” she said at the time.
“I’m posting content and people are like, ‘You look so good. Tell us your tricks. You look amazing.’ And I’m like, ‘I’m miserable. I’m miserable. I’m depressed,’ ” Nicole admitted. “My abs were amazing, I had a six-pack. And it was like, ‘I had never felt so bad in my life.’ “
Nicole said in October that if she could give a message to the version of herself who was struggling last summer, she’d say, “Buckle the f— up, sweetie,” adding, “You thought the worst had already come, but buckle up and take all of the tools right now and put them in your bag because you’re going to need them.”
