"I'm not sure anyone has ever asked me this": Matthew Stafford's wife, Kelly Stafford, opens up about football season

Kelly Stafford was asked a simple question on Instagram, and she gave an honest answer. A follower asked how she is doing this football season. She said she wasn't sure anyone had ever asked her that before. Then she said it: it's a lot.Kelly, wife of Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, shared the answer on her Instagram Story. She said she is “stressed often and always planning for the next game, whether that means hosting or getting her girls to another stadium. The rest of her week is kids' sports, homework, and tests. She said she's sure all moms feel the same stress.”Her twist: "I just also have a husband running for his life on Sundays 🤣."Cheeky, yes. But the joke has a lot of truth in it.From Booed in Detroit to Stepping Away From Her Podcast: Kelly Stafford's Real Talk on NFL LifeMatthew is entering his 18th NFL season, his sixth with the Rams, and the couple are raising four daughters. The girls are reportedly between six and nine years old. When Matthew leaves for camp and the season, Kelly runs the home side of things. She has also built her own career as host of the podcast The Morning After with Kelly Stafford.Over the summer, Kelly reportedly said on another podcast that the hardest part for Matthew is missing his kids' weekend sports. That has added to talk that this could be his last season, though nothing is confirmed.She has said this before. This isn't a one-off. Kelly has been open about the pressure for years.In January 2024, Kelly said she and her kids were booed on the sideline before the Lions-Rams wild-card game in Detroit, and that Hunter cried. She said she could handle the boos herself, but felt differently with her girls beside her.Two of her daughters were hospitalized before the Rams' wild-card game against the Vikings, in January 2025, just days after the family evacuated their Los Angeles home because of wildfires. Kelly took the girls to Waffle House afterward and said they were happy to be on dad's work trip.In October 2025, Kelly announced she was stepping back from her own podcast for four weeks to protect her mental health and think about the show's future. She later extended the break to focus on her family and Matthew's season. In a later Q&A, she said she didn't miss the anxiety of waiting to see what headline an episode would create. She said she needed a mental break.Earlier this year, after a tight Rams playoff win, her phone showed 103 missed calls, and she asked if anyone else felt the stress of these games was shaving years off their life. She said on her podcast that the time around Matthew's move was very stressful, and that he is very good at compartmentalizing.Kelly's biggest scare had nothing to do with football. She announced a brain tumor in April 2019 and had a 12-hour surgery two weeks later. She welcomed the couple's fourth child in June 2020. So when she says "it's a lot," she knows what the real hard stuff looks like.The thing is, that nobody asks the person standing on the sideline how she is. Fans ask about the quarterback's arm, his knee, his contract. The wife gets a camera shot in the suite, a nice outfit, and a caption about "supporting her man." The truth is that she's doing a second full-time job without a salary, a stat line, or a highlight reel.Kelly's answer is worth reading because it isn't dramatic. She doesn't complain about her husband or her life. She just says the load is heavy, that it feels like what every mom carries, and then makes a joke because that's how tired people survive. That mix of honest and funny is why her posts travel.It also shows how rare it is for someone to ask. When a woman says "wow, I'm not sure anyone has ever asked me that," it shouldn't be a throwaway line. It should make the rest of us ask more often.Stay updated with the latest Asian Games 2026 news, check the Asian Games medal tally and complete Asian Games schedule.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.