NFL's Jason Kelce Regretfully Jokes He "Abandoned" His Wife 4 Days After She Gave Birth
Only four days after his third child was born, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce "abandoned" his postpartum wife for a trip to the NFL Combine to conduct interviews.
"I went to the combine on Thursday, four days after my new child being born, and missed Elliotte's actual birthday," he shared on the latest episode of his podcast "New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce," which he cohosts with brother Travis. Jason's middle child, Elliotte, patiently waited to celebrate her second birthday until he returned. "Thankfully, my wife was kind enough to hold it off to Sunday so I could at least celebrate it with her."
Jason and his wife, Kylie Kelce, announced the arrival of their daughter Bennett on Feb. 23 in an Instagram post captioned, "Yesterday little lady #3 joined us." But just a few days later, Jason had to get back to work.
"I'm not going to lie, you know those mugs that have like, 'World's Best Dad' on it? I feel like over this past week, I definitely deserve a mug that says, 'Most Neglectful Father,'" he continued.
"Stop," Travis responded with a laugh.
"I'm serious. I just up and abandoned my wife with a 3-year-old, now a 2-year-old, and an 8-day-old," he said, before qualifying, "Really she was a 4-day-old when I abandoned her."
Despite Jason's guilt, Kylie has been vocal about her appreciation for her husband's dedication to fatherhood. "It's been amazing to see him sort of transformed from only having a brother, not having any first cousins, so really having like no experience with little girls," she told People ahead of the Super Bowl. "And now, he is just absolutely head over heels in love with his daughters, and they feed that back to him tenfold."
Both Jason and Travis have big shoes to fill. With a Super Bowl MVP mom like Donna Kelce, who handled being in the spotlight like a champ, it's hard not to compare parenting skills. But with her at the helm of this family, we're sure they'll all turn out just fine.