{"id":744481,"date":"2026-07-05T11:27:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T11:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/744481\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T11:27:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T11:27:08","slug":"taylor-swifts-teacher-kirk-schwabe-dies-after-cancer-battle-on-same-day-as-singers-msg-wedding-to-travis-kelce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/744481\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Swift\u2019s teacher Kirk Schwabe dies after cancer battle on same day as singer’s MSG wedding to Travis Kelce"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taylor Swift\u2019s former teacher died on the same day as her wedding to Travis Kelce in New York City<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kirk Schwabe \u2014 who taught Swift criminal justice at Hendersonville High School in Nashville and later worked as her security guard \u2014 died amid his battle with metastatic kidney cancer on Friday at age 69, his family told The Telegraph<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Schwabe\u2019s daughter Sarah Gordon revealed on Thursday that her dad had been moved to hospice care after his health had \u201cdeclined rapidly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor Swift\u2019s former teacher Kirk Schwabe, left, died after a cancer battle on the same day as her wedding to Travis Kelce. Sarah Gordon\/Facebook<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past several weeks, his health has declined rapidly and he has now been moved to hospice care,\u201d Gordon wrote on Facebook<\/a> on Thursday. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you know my dad, you know he has poured his heart into everything he\u2019s done,\u201d Sarah continued. \u201cHe has always loved teaching. He loves his students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gordon posted a photo of Swift with her dad while holding a framed record plaque commemorating the release of her 2006 self-titled debut album, \u201cTaylor Swift.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schwabe was a police officer in Chicago before he became a criminal justice educator and taught Swift from 2004 to 2006, while the \u201cOpalite\u201d singer was in her mid-teens.<\/p>\n

Schwabe taught Swift criminal justice in high school before later working as her security guard during her early career. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Before his death, Schwabe said he believed his former student had found the right partner in Kelce.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do trust Taylor\u2019s judgment. She knows what\u2019s best,\u201d he said in an interview with The Telegraph<\/a> which was published on July 2.<\/p>\n

Schwabe recalled telling Swift that her life was about to change as her career took off.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told her, you\u2019re a superstar. This is not fun and games no more. You are it. Everything keeps going up and up and up, and the sky\u2019s the limit for you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do trust Taylor\u2019s judgment. She knows what\u2019s best,\u201d Schwabe had said of her choice to marry Kelce. John Salangsang \/ Shutterstock<\/p>\n

While working as Swift\u2019s security guard, Schwabe admitted he watched her rise to fame with \u201cpanic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anything happens, I\u2019m the guy,\u201d he said. \u201cWe got four or five hundred people in here, and I got some extra security guards, but I don\u2019t know a lot of these guys who got hired, I don\u2019t know what their qualifications are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe treated her like he did his daughters,\u201d his wife Jane added.<\/p>\n

Schwabe later left his job as Swift\u2019s security guard after becoming burned out, but remained fond of the singer.<\/p>\n

Schwabe was proud of Swift\u2019s success and happy for both her and Kelce ahead of their wedding, his family said. Getty Images<\/p>\n

When the pop star made a cameo in the 2010 film \u201cValentine\u2019s Day,\u201d her character\u2019s teacher was named \u201cMr. Schwabe,\u201d in reference to the beloved educator.<\/p>\n

Swift and Kelce married in a star-studded ceremony at Madison Square Garden officiated by Adam Sandler<\/a> on Friday.<\/p>\n

Although Schwabe did not live to see the wedding, his family told the outlet he remained proud of Swift\u2019s success and was happy for both her and Kelce ahead of the ceremony.<\/p>\n

Madison Square Garden announces the news that Swift and Kelce were married, July 3, 2026. LAURA BRETT\/EPA\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Swift\u2019s aunt Robin Gentry revealed<\/a> the couple \u201ccried and they laughed and they danced and they hugged and they kissed,\u201d adding there was \u201clots\u201d of food and that guests were served cake.<\/p>\n

Paul McCartney performed The Beatles\u2019 \u201cI Want to Hold Your Hand\u201d for the couple<\/a>, while Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks also took the stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Signs outside MSG read \u201cJUST&T MARRIED\u201d to announce the news that the couple had made things official.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Taylor Swift\u2019s former teacher died on the same day as her wedding to Travis Kelce in New York…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":744482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[88,111421,318230,3198,4144],"class_list":["post-744481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-page-swift","tag-taylor-swift-and-travis-kelces-wedding","tag-teachers","tag-travis-kelce"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/744482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}