The biggest movie star in the world went to a football game and got the lesson of his life from the biggest pop star. Tom Cruise told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show on Thursday (Sept. 17) that Taylor Swift spent the Kansas City Chiefs’ season opener explaining the game to him.
“She was schooling me on football,” Cruise said. “For real. She was bringing the football. First of all, she’s a genius. I’ve been following her since she was a kid.” He added that he hadn’t been to a game since before Covid, “so to get to hang out there and have that moment, it was a lot. But she knows her stuff,” per Rolling Stone.
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The game was Monday night (Sept. 14) at Arrowhead Stadium, where the Chiefs opened their season against the Denver Broncos. It was the first time Swift had seen her husband, Travis Kelce, play since they married on July 3 at Madison Square Garden, the AP reported. She skipped the Emmys in Los Angeles for it, though she did pre-tape a Law & Order: SVU sketch with host Mariska Hargitay that played with whether she would show up.
Swift’s family filled the suite: her parents, Scott and Andrea, brother Austin and her new in-laws, Donna and Ed Kelce, according to Billboard. Cruise was spotted on the broadcast chatting with Swift and hugging her after a Chiefs touchdown. He was also at the wedding, per post-wedding comments from broadcasters Joe Buck and Greg Olsen.
Cruise said they also talked about music and movies. “She’s got such a great sense of humor,” he said. “A brilliant writer also, by the way. Brilliant musician and director. Very skilled.” Fallon noted that Swift had said she knew nothing about football when she met Kelce, and Cruise recalled she told him her husband is patient. “I said, ‘I’m sure he was,’” he replied.
The Chiefs were trying to bounce back from a 6-11 finish, their first losing season since 2012, and Patrick Mahomes returned from a torn ligament in his left knee in time for the opener, per the AP. Swift picked the suite over the Emmys, where The Eras Tour: The Final Show was nominated for outstanding variety special (pre-recorded) but had already lost at the Creative Arts ceremony to a Muppet Show special starring Sabrina Carpenter.
Cruise was on the show to talk up Digger, his new film with director Alejandro González Iñárritu, which opens in theaters Oct. 2. Fans have wondered if the film is a musical, and he played along. “I think we should do Digger: The Musical,” he said, though he called the real movie “totally original” and “audacious.” He and Fallon also hung from wires for a Claw Machine Challenge themed to his movies.
- Game
- Chiefs vs. Broncos, Sept. 14, Arrowhead Stadium
- Cruise’s interview
- The Tonight Show, Sept. 17
- Cruise’s film
- Digger, in theaters Oct. 2
Added to the High Grailed archive on October 12, 2026.
