BEFORE his famous relationship with Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce dated Maya Benberry.
But who is Maya, the contestant who once won Travis’ heart on his dating show, Catching Kelce?
Maya was born on December 27, 1991 in Germany but grew up in Kentucky, USA.
She graduated from the University of Kentucky with a degree in elementary education.
In her bio for Catching Kelce, the southern beauty described herself as a “self-proclaimed psychic” who “can tell if a man is lying.”
She also wrote that she “was an Army brat.”
Maya’s social media state that she is a life coach, helping “women create their dream life” through her agency RBRND.
Before this, she founded the cosmetics business Benberry Beauty Bar.
The self-proclaimed dating expert is also an accomplished dancer.
In October 2023, she announced she was part of the music video for rapper DaBaby‘s song Trickin’, which does not appear to still be online.
Travis and Maya met in 2016 on Travis’ dating show Catching Kelce, in which 50 contestants vied to win the heart of the NFL star.
On the show, Maya had drama with various cast members, but it was her feistiness that attracted the footballer to her.
At the end of the show, he said: “I love your confidence, but at times it does get overconfident. It kind of shows arrogance.
“I have been attracted to women like that my entire life, and those relationships didn’t work because of that. I don’t want that anymore.
“I feel like I came into this idea, this experience, this show because I needed that change in my life, and Veronica [another contestant] is that change.
“But even though my mind’s telling me one thing, I got to go with my heart.”
Travis and Maya called it quits just a few months after Catching Kelce, with the footballer moving swiftly on to sports journalist and influencer Kayla Nicole in 2017.
He and Kayla went on to date on-and-off for the next five years.
Maya accused Travis of cheating in a series of now-deleted tweets, in which she claimed that there was overlap between Travis’ involvement with her and Kayla.
In the subsequent years, Maya has spoken to several publications to criticize the star and his relationship with Taylor Swift.
In September 2023, she told the Daily Mail: “Taylor seems like such a fun girl with a beautiful spirit so I wish her the best of luck but I wouldn’t be a girls’ girl if I didn’t advise her to be smart!
“I’m sure by now she has mastered the ability to see who is really there for her – and who is just using her.
“I can only hope that she comes out the teacher in this situation and not the student.”
She continued: “Only time will tell but like the saying always goes, once a cheater, always a cheater.”
A source close to Travis labelled the comments “a poor excuse of someone trying to get her 15 min of fame.”
In the same year, Maya doubled down on her claims on an episode of TV program Inside Edition.
She said: “Certain qualities don’t change in men. I feel like Travis is a narcissist. Most narcissists don’t change.
“He met my parents, I had a key to his penthouse. To me that means that you’re pretty serious.”
Turning to Travis’ new relationship, she continued: “The only reason I question the genuineness of the relationship is because he’s talking to the media a lot.
She went on to slam Swift’s fan base, saying: “Swifties are aggressive, very negative, very hypocritical.
“It’s really crazy to me that someone that I think is positive and really nice has such a negative and angry fan base.”
