Donna Kelce Opens Up About Her Preference for Jason Kelce: ‘He is So Gentle and Free-Hearted

Donna Kelce is a proud mom and grandmother. In conversation with PEOPLE about her partnership Aramark Sports + Entertainment this holiday season, the Kelce family matriarch opened up about what she loves about son Jason Kelce as a dad to his three daughters — Bennett, 10 months, Elliotte, 2½, and Wyatt, 4.

“Jason is a loving and playful father,” Donna tells PEOPLE. “Jason is a loving and playful father,” Donna tells PEOPLE. “What surprises me most is his gentle, cuddling nature with the girls, while still bringing excitement and the thrill of roughhousing as much as he can, regardless of how he feels,” she continued. “He strives to place his family as the highest priority in his life.”

In a candid scene from Kelce, a Prime Video documentary released earlier this year focusing on the 36-year-old Philadelphia Eagles center’s life throughout the 2022-2023 season, Jason opened up about his thoughts about how his health will impact his family in the future. “There have been little things that are not big things yet but are going to turn into big things the longer I play,” he said.

“Not to dress like an elephant in the NFL room, but I am fearful about what the impacts of playing football are going to mean long-term. I have two girls and … some people end up getting CTE and some guys live long, healthy lives,” he leveled, referring to the brain disease that has been diagnosed in many deceased professional football players.

I have no idea what’s going to happen with that because I’ve thought about this,” he said, thinking of the amount of physical impacts in the game and if “it might come back to bite me.” “Nobody’s guaranteed tomorrow. Nobody’s guaranteed years in advance,” he noted. “We idolize living as long as possible and as healthy as possible. I don’t know that that’s necessarily the meaning of life.” “If I get CTE and I can’t interact with my grandkids, I would still say playing 12 years in the NFL and making my family super prosperous and being an influential member of at least the city of Philadelphia is a good trade-off.”

Speaking with PEOPLE earlier this year, Jason’s wife Kylie Kelce opened up about the athlete’s role as a girl dad. “I don’t think in his life, Jason ever assumed that he would be the father of three daughters,” Kylie, 31, told PEOPLE.

“He would always be like, ‘No, no, we’ll get a boy. We’ll get a boy.’ And I’m like, ‘You got to stop challenging the universe. Stop saying it because you’re the universe is like, ‘Yeah, okay,’ ” she chuckled. “I used to tell him before we had our first daughter, she’s gonna have you wrapped around her finger. He said, ‘I’m not gonna spoil her!’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t think you understand.’”