NFL
Breaking News: The parents of Jason and Travis Kelce decided to put off getting divorced until after their sons graduated from college
Donna Kelce, 71, said she and her now ex-husband decided to divorce only after their sons, Jason and Travis Kelce, graduated from college.
During an episode of “The Martha Stewart Podcast” released on Wednesday, Donna Kelce reflected on how she and Ed Kelce decided to stay together for almost 25 years in order to raise their sons under one roof.
“We worked together as a team,” she said. “So 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.”
She added that it was “very, very difficult to raise children on your own,” more so since her sons were both very active.
The Kelce family lived in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and both Jason and Travis went on to study and play football at the University of Cincinnati.
Jason started his NFL career with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2011 and retired earlier this year. Travis has been playing for the Kansas City Chiefs ever since he was drafted in 2013.
This isn’t the first time the family has spoken about their unique family situation.
In “Kelce,” the 2023 Amazon Prime Video documentary about their elder son, Jason Kelce, Ed Kelce explained why choosing to stay married was the best option for the family.
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, according to People.
Even though they’ve been separated for some time, both parents still regularly attend their sons’ NFL games.
Earlier this year, during the Super Bowl, they were spotted cheering on Travis Kelce from the VIP box at Allegiant Stadium with Taylor Swift and other celebrities.
In 2023, many high-profile celebrity couples announced that they would be divorcing — including Sofía Vergara and Joe Manganiello, Kevin Costner and Christine Baumgartner, and Reese Witherspoon and Jim Toth.
And it’s not just celebrities: Bowling Green State University’s National Center for Family and Marriage Research found that the divorce rate among those age 65 and older had tripled from 1990 to 2021.
Divorces can be difficult, but there are ways to navigate them, including through “conscious uncoupling,” as popularized by Gwyneth Paltrow.
But divorce isn’t the best option for everyone. Alex Kapp, a divorce manager, previously shared with Business Insider signs a relationship could be salvaged, including both parties still loving each other and being willing to re-establish communication.