Donna Kelce Defends Son Travis From Dads, Brads and Chads (Exclusive)

Donna Kelce shouts out the “Dads, Brads and Chads!”

While attending the New York premiere of the FX series grotesque In support of her son Travis Kelce, Donna, 71, shared on Monday, September 23, that it was “hard” to hear the negative comments about the Kansas City Chiefs star's NFL performance.

“It's hard, it really is,” Donna tells PEOPLE at the event, addressing the NFL haters who famously called Taylor Swift “dads, brads and chads.”

“You know, I don't think they realize the pressure that people are under, whether they're athletes or professionals, being in front of the camera. And it’s just very difficult, there’s a lot of things happening behind the scenes,” she says.

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The tight end's mother added, “You don't know how many times people try to stop you from catching the ball, from tripping you, from hitting you… so it's pretty difficult when you have people there to help you get in the way.” Face 24/7.”

Donna attended the premiere as a representative of the Kelce family, while Travis was in Kansas City following his team's 22-17 win over the Atlanta Falcons the day before.

Travis' girlfriend Swift, 34, used the term “Dads, Brads and Chads” to describe NFL haters in her Time Cover story in December 2023 when she talked about supporting him at his games. “I don't realize if I'm being shown too much and I'm upsetting a few dads, Brads and Chads,” she shared at the time.

Although it wasn't easy to hear the haters' remark, Donna tells PEOPLE, “It's part of the whole thing. I've been doing this for 15 years now. It is what it is.”

“I know when they’re out there, they give it everything they can. And sometimes people fail. “You don’t want to, but sometimes other things happen,” she adds proudly of Travis.

We talk about her son's acting debut in the upcoming series grotesque by Ryan Murphy Donna tells PEOPLE she's “not really” nervous after raising Travis and his brother Jason.

“I've been watching these boys for years, since they were three years old, on the field, in sports, in band, whatever at school – in plays,” she says. “You know, it's just a mother taking care of her children.”

grotesqueThe first two episodes premiere Wednesday, September 25th at 10pm ET/PT on FX.