That friendship also extends to her fellow NFL moms.
“They’re just amazing human beings,” she says. “I know what they’ve had to go through, and there’s kind of a kinship that we have with each other, if you do get to meet them.”
It’s an automatic connection rooted in shared sacrifice.
“We all know how hard we were working when they were younger and trying to make ends meet, because it’s expensive,” she says.
What feeding the Kelce boys was like
When asked how much time she’s spent either preparing for or at her sons’ games, Donna Kelce says it’s incalculable.
“I can’t even think about it, there were very few days that we weren’t doing something,” she says. “So I don’t know — 30 years times at least one or two hours a day.”
Donna Kelce worked in banking while her sons were growing up.
“I wish I could say that I was a mom that painstakingly made snacks and brought them, but I didn’t,” she says. “I bought them all.”
“They were the marshmallow treats, they were gummies, they were this, they were that — whatever I could give them a little bit more energy, and then we’d go out and eat a huge meal afterwards.”
When they went to college, she says it felt like she “got a raise” due to how much her grocery bill shrank.
“It’s just constant grazing. You fix a huge meal … and they would be hungry an hour later,” she says.
Donna Kelce’s ‘grandma name’
The relationship between the NFL moms doesn’t compare to the bonds between the mothers of college football players, she says — “you’re with the same kids for five years,” she says.
“In the NFL, it’s a little different because the boys end up with girlfriends and wives and so the moms are kind of not in it that much,” she says.
Travis Kelce is notably dating Taylor Swift, and Jason Kelce is married to Kylie Kelce, with three daughters.
Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images
She’s previously joked that Jason is her “favorite” child for a simple reason — he gave her grandchildren.
Jason and Kylie Kelce share three daughters, Wyatt, Elliotte and Bennett — the youngest of whom was born less than two weeks after the 2023 Super Bowl.
Donna Kelce says her grandma name is “DeeDee.”
“That’s the first initial to my name, and it’s usually the first consonant that they can say,” she says.
As for her grandparent style, she says she’s not a “typical” grandmother in that she’s not “around 24/7.”
“I’m more of a fly-in, have a great time and then fly back out,” she says, “which I’m sure is much to the chagrin of my son and his wife.”
She adds that she loves spending time with the three girls.
“It’s wonderful to be able to see life through the eyes of a child,” she says.