Donna Kelce has opened up about her ill-fated marriage to Ed Kelce, saying the pair stayed married for so many years “for the kids.”
The proud mom, whose sons are NFL champs Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce, graced the cover of Glamour for its “2024 Woman of the Year: The Moms” issue, alongside Beyoncé and Solange’s mom Tina Knowles; Billie Eilish and Finneas’ mom Maggie Baird; and Selena Gomez’s mom Mandy Teefey.
“I was a commercial banker for a bank in several different states. I wanted to get ahead. I worked really, really hard. I was a major breadwinner in the family,” Donna, 71, told the outlet.
“And I think it’s important for kids to see that a woman can do whatever she wants, but I did stand still, too.”
She continued, “My husband and I knew that our marriage was not working, but we stayed together for the kids.
“Ours was a very friendly relationship. So, we could do that and make sure that their life was normal as possible. But in that one respect, I did stand still for several years until I could move on on my own.”
It’s unclear exactly when the couple parted ways.
Travis and Jason discussed their parents’ relationship in the Amazon Prime sports documentary, “Kelce,” released last year.
“I knew my mom and dad’s situation was different than other parents,” Travis said. “I would go and have sleepovers at other houses and the other parents are staying in the same room, and my parents didn’t stay in the same room.”
“I started making those connections when I was in middle school and I realized that they were probably gonna split — but they stayed together for me and Jason’s benefit, I believe,” the 3-time Super Bowl champ added.
In the documentary, Ed explained that he and Donna had to make sacrifices for their sons to be able to follow their NFL dreams.
“If we had split as we probably both would have preferred, that would have been a nightmare with the logistics, getting kids where they had to be and providing all the support,” he said.
Donna agreed, recalling that time as being “tough” while juggling parenting.
“Just trying to keep it all together when you’re being a parent,” she said. “It’s tough.”
The mom of two previously explained during an episode of her sons’ “New Heights” podcast that she and Ed met by chance at a Cleveland bar when she was actually en route to another date.
The pair “talked forever,” Donna said, and she never went to meet the other man.
Elsewhere in the Glamour cover story, Donna opened up about motherhood, saying that “being a mom is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
“It’s so much easier to just go to work, but raising children, when they’re totally dependent on you and you’re trying to do the best you can with the limited resources that you have, it’s the most daunting task I’ve ever had to do,” she added.
