Following her appearance on Glamour’s 2024 Women of the Year cover, the mother of two spoke with PEOPLE about the support she received for her modeling career from her sons Travis and Jason Kelce, as well as Travis’ fiancée Taylor Swift.
Donna, 71, told PEOPLE at Glamour’s 2024 Women of the Year event on Tuesday, Oct. 8, at The Times Square EDITION in New York City, that her sons “didn’t know until the cover came out ’cause I wasn’t allowed to tell them.”
“But basically, they’re extremely thrilled with anything and support me in everything I do, so they’re like, ‘Mommy!Wow!,'” she continued, describing the recognition as a “shock for me, too.”
The next morning, Travis, 35, and Jason, 36, gave their mom a special shoutout on their podcast New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce, celebrating Donna’s “impressive” honor.
“Happy as hell for you, mama,” Travis exclaimed on the show. “This is cool, and you looked absolutely amazing, mom.”
Donna appeared on the cover alongside Beyoncé and Solange’s mother, Tina Knowles, 70; Billie Eilish and Finneas’ mother, Maggie Baird, 65; and Selena Gomez and Gracie Teefey’s mother, Mandy Teefey, 48.
“She’s in good company,” Jason, 36, said of the famous mothers who spoke with Glamour about raising their superstar children.
“Shout out to all the other mothers who are women of the year,” Travis added. “It’s impressive that Mama Kelce has made it to the top.”
“I mean, those are top-tier moms right there,” the Chiefs star said.
The brothers took a moment to address Donna’s Glamour article, in which she stated that parenting was “probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
It’s so much easier to just go to work, but having children, when they’re completely reliant on you and you’re trying to do the best you can with the minimal resources you have, is the most difficult challenge I’ve ever had to face,” Donna stated in the issue.
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Travis commented that Donna “made it look easy” to be the best mother to her sons. “I’m sorry if we made things worse for you,” Travis joked, “because I’m sure Jason did and I know I didn’t.