A full-time nanny from Kansas City has shared her glamorous part-time job as a celebrity lookalike after years of being likened to a famous singer.
Kelley Thrasher, 40, has been told she looked like famous pop star Taylor Swift for 14 years.
And she’s now managed to create a second lucrative career out of it, with Thrasher revealing she earns more in two hours pretending to be Swift than she did in an entire week while working as a teacher.
Thrasher hadn’t paid much attention to the remarks until attending a Swift concert, where she found herself in a scary situation.
Kelley Thrasher has been told she resembles the famous pop star, Taylor Swift, for 14 years
Taylor Swift is an American Singer-Songwriter who is currently performing internationally on her Era’s Tour
Thrasher said that she was ‘mobbed’ at a concert 12 years ago, after wearing an old Halloween costume
The concert was 12 years ago, during Swift’s Speak Now Tour, when Thrasher found herself mobbed by fans who mistook her for the real thing.
She had worn a Taylor Swift costume for Halloween the year prior and decided to wear it again for the concert.
‘Kids. Moms. Everywhere. It’s me and two of my girlfriends. We’re trying to get away. One of my girlfriends yanked me out of the crowd and said, “she’s not Taylor!”,’ Thrasher told The Kansas City Star.
She added that people continued to approach her throughout the concert asking for photos, finding the experience, ‘honestly a bit scary’.
Thrasher was encouraged to consider working as a Taylor Swift tribute artist by a friend after the concert, reported the outlet, but it took a chance encounter with Bruno Mars to push her into the gig.
Mars was so convinced she was the real Taylor Swift he sent over free drinks to a woman he believed was his showbiz friend.
She decided in June to start accepting invitations to appear at parties said the Daily Star, saying she was hesitant at first because she ‘didn’t want to trick people- especially kids’.
Since she began, she spoke to one of the party organizers who said, ‘the kids don’t even care – they love Taylor and will be in awe regardless’.
Thrasher says her star has risen even further locally thanks to a happy coincidence. The real Swift is now a regular in Kansas City thanks to her relationship with Chiefs’ tight-end Travis Kelce, sending local interest soaring even higher.
‘I get stopped a lot because there’s always a chance Taylor could actually be in Kansas, as Travis Kelce plays here,’ she told the outlet.
After only starting a few weeks ago, Thrasher said she had already done four gigs and was booked out for most of September.
Thrasher said: ‘The way i see it, Taylor can’t be everywhere at once … just like Santa. I am just Taylor’s helper because it’s impossible to be all places at once.’
Thrasher, who reiterated that she had been rocking the red-lip, cat-eye combination since college, joked that she needed a shirt saying, ‘Not Taylor’s Version’
Thrasher’s likeness to the pop star has also brought on national attention, after the doppelgänger appeared on the Live with Kelly and Mark morning show
‘I get stopped a lot because there’s always a chance Taylor could actually be in Kansas, as Travis Kelce plays here,’ said Thrasher who lives in Kansas
Her initial work as a teacher didn’t allow any time to pursue any other work, so she switched to being a nanny for more flexible hours- but has since found that another career change may be in order.
‘The money is good – I make more in two hours than I did in a week when I worked as a teacher. The first party I walked into, all the guests went silent with open mouths- everyone was so excited,’ she told the Daily Star.
Thrasher says she’s ‘happier now’ with the added income, shorter weeks, and more time to spend with her 1-year-old charge, reported the Kansas City Star.
Thrasher’s likeness to the pop star has also brought on national attention, after the doppelgänger appeared on the Live with Kelly and Mark morning show.
She also told the outlet that the Kelce Jam music festival in May turned into the ‘hard launch’ of her career, she said: ‘I mean there were people staring the whole time, I went into the bathroom and came out of the stall and this woman looked like she was about to die.’
Thrasher, who reiterated that she had been rocking the red-lip, cat-eye combination since college, joked that she needed a shirt saying, ‘Not Taylor’s Version’.
