Taylor Swift has been struggling after a fan died at one of her Eras Tour concerts in Rio de Janeiro, but her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, has been her main “support system,” according to Us Weekly. “She is so grateful she’s had Travis,” a source told the publication on November 21.
“He’s been a huge support system for her right now. Her family has been there, but it’s different to have a boyfriend to lean on,” the insider continued. The source also noted that Swift, 33, was “completely beside herself” after Ana Clara Benevides Machado’s’ death, “and it’s been so hard for her to talk about.” The pop star also “reached out” to Benevides’ family, according to the outlet.
Benevides Machado was 23 years old when she died. The late college student attended Swift’s show at Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos in Rio on November 17. Right before Swift took the stage to perform, Benevides Machado collapsed amid the extreme heat in the stadium and suffered from cardiac arrest. Though medics attempted to resuscitate her, she suffered from cardiac arrest a second time en route to the hospital and was pronounced dead before she could be revived.
I don’t think we’re giving this woman enough credit for literally tossing her personal water bottles into the crowd in Brazil in a STADIUM crowd.
Do you know the eagle eye you need to see a distressed person in a STADIUM?!
“I don’t like Taylor Swift” – idgaf go kick rocks pic.twitter.com/fwVb1dqALx
— chris cross big apple sauce 🍎🗽🍕🥯 (@notchrisvolpe) November 21, 2023
The next day, Swift released a statement about Benevides Machado and confirmed that she had postponed the November 18 concert. “I’m writing this from my dressing room in the stadium,” she wrote in the social media message. “The decision has been made to postpone tonight’s show due to the extreme temperatures in Rio. The safety and well-being of my fans, fellow performers, and crew has to and always will come first.”
In a separate note that she shared via her Instagram Stories, the “Karma” artist wrote, “I can’t believe I’m writing these words, but it is with her shattered heart that I say we lost a fan earlier tonight before my show. I can’t even tell you how devastated I am by this. here’s very little information I have other than the fact that she was so incredibly beautiful and far too young. I’m not going to be able to speak about this from stage because I feel overwhelmed by grief when I even try to talk about it. I want to say now I feel this loss deeply and my broken heart goes out to her family and friends. This is the last thing I ever thought would happen when we decided to bring this tour to Brazil.”
During her November 19 performance at the venue, fans shared videos of Swift singing her song “Bigger Than the Whole Sky,” with many speculating that it was a silent tribute to Benevides Machado. Attendees took to social media during Swift’s Rio concerts to show how dangerously high the temperature had risen. Swift was even seen throwing water bottles into the audience as a way to help her fans stay hydrated.
Benevides’ father remembered his daughter as a “happy, intelligent” girl who was pursuing her psychology degree in a statement to local newspaper Folha de S. Paulo. He also emphasized that guests claimed that they were not allowed to bring their own water bottles into the event.
“I want it to be determined whether they were in fact prohibited from bringing water, whether there was negligence in providing assistance,” he said in Portuguese, which was translated to English, per E! “I know that the singer was handing out water to her fans, and that is absurd for an event of this size. Nothing will bring my daughter back, but I hope that, if negligence is confirmed, someone will be punished, so that this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”