Are you, like most of America, curious to learn more about Kylie Kelce? Well, the former college field hockey star and mother of three insists she is an open book.
Case in point: after last week’s Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills game where her husband, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, took his shirt off in the stands, Kylie jokingly declared she would be getting a cat in response to his antics. According to Kelce, the headline-grabbing moment was just another day in the life of her family. “I expect that at this point,” she tells Glamour with a laugh. “If he doesn’t do something a little bit nutty like that, I’m like, ‘Are you okay?’”
Of course, Kelce is well aware of the public attention—she’s been married to the Super Bowl champion since 2018 and is the sister-in-law of Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce. However, Kelce says with her family what you see is what you get, especially when it comes to Jason and Travis’s podcast New Heights. “I have no filter and people think they’re getting the inside scoop when I appear on the podcast, but the boys rat themselves out every single week,” she says. “They’re very self-aware individuals. It’s kind of entertaining.”
Kelce is understandably less forthcoming when it comes to talking about Taylor Swift, who is dating her brother-in-law to much fanfare. However, she insists that any increase of interest in football, especially among young girls, is ultimately good for the sport.
“My dad only had two daughters, so I was the stand-in for watching football with my dad. I always found it to be the most fun experience, watching with him to cheer on the Eagles. It was the Sunday activity,” she explains. “So, to see that other young girls are getting involved and that they want to sit down and cheer with their dads or they’re finding their own reason to be interested, it’s only something that can be painted in a positive and exciting light. It’s just another way to encourage girls to appreciate sport.”
For similar reasons, Kelce is using her own platform for good. Ahead of Super Bowl LVIII, she’s joining forces with Dove for its Body Confident Sports initiative, a curriculum geared towards building body confidence in young female athletes.
During the big game, Dove will air an ad bringing awareness to this program co-developed with Nike to create tailored coaching for girls 11 to 17. According to the brand, 45% of girls globally drop out of sports each year, citing low body confidence as their primary reason. This partnership is especially meaningful for Kelce, who remembers using Dove while she was a student athlete playing field hockey at Cabrini University in Wayne, Pennsylvania.
“I grew up using Dove, it’s a brand that I’ve always supported and still support to this day,” says Kelce. “I was an athlete myself and I coach field hockey now for a high school team, so every single day I am trying to do the things that Dove is now trying to achieve. It is an outstanding resource for not only athletes, but coaches and how we can address the topic and make sure that we are keeping girls confident enough that they stay in sports.” Standing at 5’11”, Kelce’s height made her prone to feeling self-conscious. However, she began to view her tall build as a superpower when she saw how it helped her game.
“A lot of people might think that my height would negatively impact a young girl, but there are two things that helped me move past that and see it as a positive asset to myself,” she says. “First of all, my dad is 6’9”, but also the fact that my height in field hockey was a positive asset. I had a better reach, I had a stronger hit because my stick was longer. There were so many ways that my height helped me in field hockey.”
This realization—finding confidence and fulfillment through love of the sport—is what Kelce wants young girls to take away from the spot on Super Bowl Sunday. “I hope they draw the connection between sports and feeling good about themselves,” she says. “That sports are an enjoyable and positive experience and having those positive feelings then translates to making sure they continue with it.” Ahead, Kylie Kelce talks about raising three young girls in a football family, her thoughts on starting a podcast with her mother-in-law Donna Kelce, and her husband’s surprising hidden talent.
