Donna Kelce is arguably the most famous NFL mom in history, but more importantly, she’s a regular grandma who likes hanging out with her granddaughters.
“I wish I could spend more time with them,” Kelce, 71, exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday, November 14, while promoting her partnership with Ancestry®. “When I’m with them, I’m in the moment. I want to do what they’re doing. I want to play what they’re playing. I want to read to them. I want to build blocks, try to be as active as I possibly can and be attentive to what they’re doing and know that I value their time and I value who they are.”
Donna is a grandmother of three thanks to her son Jason Kelce, who shares daughters Wyatt, 4, Elliotte, 2, and Bennett, 8 months, with wife Kylie Kelce. Donna — who also shares son Travis Kelce with ex-husband Ed Kelce — noted that Jason, 36, thrives as a girl dad, though he was somewhat shocked to welcome three girls in a row.
“But he loves all the girls,” Donna added. “He loves the cuddling, he loves how sweet they are, the little comments that they make, how much they love their animals and their dolls.”
As for what kind of parenting advice Donna has given Jason, she said she’s encouraged him to let his daughters follow their own interests.
“Let your children choose what they love to do,” she explained. “Don’t try to steer them into something. Give them an opportunity to get involved in as much as you possibly can and let them decide. They will be good at whatever they love to do. It’s just the way it is. If they love to do something, they will do it over and over and over again. … Whether it’s art or sports or music or whatever they love to do, try to let them do it and try to get them help with it and support them.”
Family is “really important” to Donna, which is partly why she wanted to work with Ancestry®. “I’ve been very, very pleased with the partnership with Ancestry® specifically because of some of the new tools that they have,” she told Us. “They’ve got the ability to be able to upload photos and recipes and things like that, which really intrigued me.”
She noted that she was also excited by the idea of learning about her own past. “We wanted to hear if we had relatives that were in wars, or how they came over to the United States, and we were having trouble finding those individuals,” she explained, noting that she discovered two of her ancestors fought in the American Civil War. “This was all found out in a 179-page pension document in the National Archives. It’s amazing to me that they can look and find that stuff.”
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
