Matthew Stafford Says He Did Taylor Swift Cameo for His Daughters, Not for Hollywood

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford says his surprise appearance in Taylor Swift’s new music video had nothing to do with chasing a second career in acting. He did it for his kids.

Stafford, the reigning NFL MVP and a Super Bowl champion, spoke publicly Wednesday for the first time about appearing alongside his wife, Kelly Stafford, in Swift’s “Patient Zero” music video.

“They were right there with me,” Stafford said. “That’s one of the main reasons that I ended up going to do that. She wanted to offer an experience for our family and our kids to see that. I’m obviously really grateful and excited to be in it.”

The Staffords filmed the cameo sometime during the offseason, though Stafford said he couldn’t pin down exactly when. “It was sometime this offseason,” he said. “I can’t remember the month, to be honest with you.”

His daughters were on set during filming and got to watch Swift work behind the scenes, an experience Stafford said stuck with him more than the finished scene did.

“Just to watch her do her thing is pretty impressive,” Stafford said. “From borderline directing, producing, writing, all of it, editing live as we were doing it. It was really cool to be a part of it.”

The cameo became public when Swift released “Patient Zero” over the weekend, showing Stafford and his wife together at a formal event in the video. It marked new territory for the quarterback, who was quick to downplay his screen debut.

“I’ve never been a part of it before,” he said. “I probably won’t ever be again based on my acting chops.”

Stafford said the song is now in constant rotation with his daughters, who requested it on repeat during a recent drive to soccer practice.

“My girls, as they do with all her songs, love that song,” Stafford said. “I was actually driving them to soccer yesterday and they were asking me to play it in the car, so we had it on repeat.”