CELEBRITY
Niecy Nash-Betts Revealed How Travis Kelce Was ‘Greedy’ and Struggling While Grabbing Food During Rehearsals for Grotesquerie
Niecy Nash-Betts is reflecting on her time working, and snacking, with Grotesquerie costar Travis Kelce.
In a new interview with ETalk, shared on TikTok on Friday, Sept. 27, the 54-year-old Emmy winner was asked what type of food she and the Kansas City Chiefs tight end, 34, would eat while practicing their lines for the Ryan Murphy series.
“Anything and everything. Travis is greedy,” she joked. “Anything and everything. I’m talking from burgers to pasta. Only one of us ever ate a salad and that was me.”
Nash-Betts’ joking revelation came after she called Kelce a “dream” to work with in the new FX series, in which she leads the cast as a small-town detective investigating a series of crimes. “He is so charming but comes to work prepared,” she told ETalk. “He’s open to learn. And I think his fans are going to be pleasantly surprised.”
The actress also said that she thinks the NFL star “caught the bug” with his latest role, adding, “I could be wrong, but I feel like yes, you’re going to see him do a lot more.”
For Grotesquerie, Kelce stepped into his first-ever scripted TV role, in a show that follows Nash-Betts’ character of Detective Lois, who tries to solve the “eerily personal” series of crimes.
And after getting to know Kelce on set, the actress now intends to catch a Chiefs game with her wife Jessica Betts, she told PEOPLE this week.
“So yes, I’m going to get to see him, but also I saw him play in the Super Bowl. But we didn’t know each other then,” she said. “Now it’s different. At first it was just like the game and now it’s like, ‘Oh, there’s my friend Travis. Hey Travis!’ That’s different. It’s personal now.”
As Nash-Betts explained, the “guys” on set were “fangirling all the way out” when they saw Kelce for the first time. He was ultimately “lovely to have on set,” “came prepared” and was “very open” to suggestions.
“He was very open on if there was a note given or a suggestion given. So amenable,” Nash-Betts said. ” ‘Tell me what I don’t know. Tell me what your thought is on this.’ And I love that he didn’t come in trying to act like, ‘I know everything and I know it all.’ ”
Meanwhile, the star athlete’s mom Donna Kelce told PEOPLE at the series’ New York City premiere on Monday, Sept. 23 that she felt Travis has “always” had acting “in the back of his mind.”
“I just think that he thought, ‘If I get an opportunity, I would like to try [acting],” she said. “He’s pretty good at just about anything he does because he’s got a good work ethic, so we’ll see.”
Grotesquerie premiered Wednesday, Sept. 25 on FX and is now streaming on Hulu.