Emmitt Smith defends Taylor Swift attending Travis Kelce’s NFL games amid backlash from male football fans: “She’s there to support her husband and she doesn’t care about all this other stuff, but the networks do. The networks are exposing everything because of who she is. She’s not looking for the damn camera! She’s trying to be Taylor Swift, wife to Travis Kelce, and is trying to enjoy life. She’s not going, ‘Put me on the camera! I’m here!’ Most stars aren’t even like that. The media needs something to talk about, this is fresh and new, and she’s a big star. Do I like it? No. Can I do anything about it? No. Can she do anything about it? No. The only thing she can do is not show up at the games, and who wants to do that? She’s just trying to be herself. That’s what losing your anonymity truly means — people follow you.”

This is a big year for Emmitt Smith.

The NFL’s all-time leading rusher, Hall of Famer and anchor of the Dallas Cowboys’ hard-partying dynasty that won three Super Bowls in the ‘90s is celebrating the 30-year anniversary of his final Super Bowl win — which also happens to be the last time the Cowboys won it all — as well as the 20-year anniversary of winning the ABC reality-competition series “Dancing with the Stars.” Smith, 57, has partnered with AT&T, the official voting partner of the show, to connect with fans and revisit his time cutting a rug via a series of social videos.

“It’s cool because AT&T has done a great job connecting people with loved ones, and this show is all about keeping people connected to moments that move us,” Smith tells Variety.

He also toasted his former win by participating in Super Bowl Night, dancing it up on the Oct. 13 episode alongside fellow DWTS alums/ex-NFL players DeMarcus Ware, Donald Driver and Danny Amendola.

“I was one of the guys that probably inspired them to get on the show, so it was cool to see Jerry Rice and myself crack the code to help get other athletes on and show people that they have other talents outside of sports,” offers Smith.

Smith dished to Variety about everything from “Dancing with the Stars” and the state of the Dallas Cowboys under owner Jerry Jones to the NFL’s domestic violence policy and running backs not getting enough respect.

It was cool. The one thing I wanted to do was be me and not try to be something else. Most people don’t understand that running the football is almost like dancing — a portrait in motion. As a running back, I float in and out of defenses and run with a style and a flow that has grace but also has power, intensity and finesse in it, and dancing can be the same way. If you dance the Paso Doble, that has grace, power, intensity and finesse in it, which is everything I had on the football field. It correlates mentally, but the technique requires a totally different thing. And athletes are used to being taught, preparing and going into the arena, so it’s a natural fit.

I understand and I can allow my mind to go there! But I have a family to go to, so for me, dancing was strictly dancing. However, the connection between my partner and I had to be spot-on. The thing we did initially — and this is what I loved about dancing with Cheryl [Burke] — we’d established the boundaries before we even got there, and she was respectful, and I was respectful. I knew I had to have a connection with her that came across as real — like actors. So, when it came to the dance floor, me and my partner were connected and nothing outside of that routine and that dance floor mattered at that time.