Jason and Travis Kelce's parents agreed to postpone their divorce until after their sons finished college
AP Photo/Matt York
- Donna Kelce says she and her ex-husband Ed decided to stay married until their sons finished college.
- "We worked together as a team," Kelce said on "The Martha Stewart Podcast."
- Both parents still regularly attend their sons' NFL games, sometimes with Taylor Swift.
Donna Kelce, 71, says she and ex-husband Ed 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, Kelce reflected on how she and Ed decided to stay together for almost 25 years in order to raise their sons under one roof.
"We worked together as a team," Kelce 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 that the family has spoken about their unique family situation.
In "Kelce," the 2023 Amazon Prime Video documentary about their eldest son Jason, Ed 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," Ed said, per People.
Even though they have 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 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: The divorce rate among those aged 65 and older has tripled from 1990 to 2021, according to a study by Bowling Green State University's National Center for Family and Marriage Research.
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, told Business Insider that there are signs that a relationship is salvageable, especially if both parties still love each other and are willing to re-establish communication.