LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – FEBRUARY 11: Ed and Donna Kelce look on from their suite prior to the NFL Super Bowl 58 football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs at Allegiant Stadium on February 11, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Originally appeared on E! Online
Donna Kelce is sharing some rare insight into her past marriage.
The mom of former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce got candid about why she chose to stay married to her ex-husband Ed Kelce for years.
“My husband and I knew that our marriage was not working, but we stayed together for the kids,” Donna explained in her Glamour Women of the Year cover story. “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.”
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The 71-year-old said she worked throughout the NFL stars' adolescence to help provide for her family.
“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,” she shared. “And I think it’s important for kids to see that a woman can do whatever she wants, but I did stand still, too.”
As for her early struggles, Donna shared the challenges of her life as a working mom.
“It’s so much easier to just go to work,” she said, “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.”
The former couple were married for 25 years before choosing to divorce.
"We worked together as a team and it's very, very difficult to raise children on your own," Donna said on "The Martha Stewart Podcast" in May. "We decided that we would be married throughout the entire time that the kids were in the house, and that's the way it worked out."
Taylor Swift’s longtime boyfriend has also commented on his parents’ past marriage. In the 2023 Amazon Prime documentary "Kelce," Travis said he realized his parents’ marriage was different from others when he noticed they didn’t share a bedroom.
"I started making those connections when I was in middle school and realized they were probably gonna split,” he shared. “But they stayed together for me and Jason's benefit, I believe.”
