As I and pretty much every wrestling blogger on earth reminded you earlier this week when we used “Taylor Swift used to be Jeff Jarrett’s babysitter” as our excuse to post about the engagement heard round the world (Swift’s to Travis Kelce, in case you just woke up from a multi-year coma) on pro wrestling websites… Taylor Swift used to be Jeff Jarrett’s babysitter.
The story goes that when Jarrett’s first wife Jill was being treated for the cancer which tragically took her life in 2007, an up-and-coming
young singer/songwriter who lived near the family in Nashville took care of Jeff & Jill’s daughters. They bonded, and for a time Taylor Swift was almost a part of the Jarrett family. It’s a great story, but as Jonathan Frakes would say, “it’s fiction”.
Not entirely, though. Double-J says the good parts are true, Swift just did it out of the kindness of heart, not because she was the family babysitter. Jarrett told TMZ Sports recently:
“It was Christmas of 2006. My first wife was really ill with breast cancer. She passed away about five months after this, so she was really ill and a friend of Taylor said, ‘Hey, why don’t you drop by?’ Obviously, like every little girl in America, my daughters were big Taylor fans. Her songs had just kind of broke, but she was a hometown girl.”
The AEW wrestler & executive, TNA founder, and WWE Hall of Famer said that as their mother was dying, Swift performed an impromptu three-hour concert in their house and would bake with his daughters. One of the Jarrett girls later appeared in one of Swift’s videos, and Jason Kelce’s bride-to-be took all the girls on a toy shopping spree while hosting the Jarretts in Maine for the shoot.
“I think in a lot of ways, and I’ll get emotional saying this, she kind of bonded with the family, specifically with the girls.”
Jeff praised Swift and her parents, but didn’t say whether he expected to get an invite to Taylor’s wedding to Super Bowl champion and aspiring Hollywood star Kelce. He did have an invite for Travis, whose brother Jason has already worked a WrestleMania…
“I would love for Kelce to step on into an AEW ring and I tell you one thing, I’d love to have a guitar for him.
“I got a guitar shot for Travis. But no, I’d welcome him in an AEW ring. I think he could make a lot of noise and it goes without saying, him and his brother, showmen at heart.
“I wish Travis nothing but success this upcoming year, but there’s going to come a time when his football career is over, so the door will be open at AEW.”
Check out ole’ Slapnuts chat with TMZ Sports here.
