Kelly Stafford Says She Lost Herself in Early Matthew Stafford Romance

Kelly Stafford Shares Update on Kids' Hospitalization Ahead of Husband Matthew Stafford’s Game

Kelly Stafford’s relationship with husband Matthew Stafford didn’t kick off how she’d hoped.

The podcast host shared insight into the challenges she faced during the early months of her romance with the Los Angeles Rams quarterback, as their relationship coincided with his football career taking off.

“Looking back at Detroit, I would say I was happy because I loved him, but I was also unhappy because I didn’t really know where I fit in or who I was,” Kelly said during the July 1 episode of The Cutting Edge podcast. “The move to L.A. really helped me realize I can be what I want to be, too.”

She added, “But I do think you lose yourself in what everyone else expects you to be.”

The 37-year-old met the football player, 38, as students at the University of Georgia, with their relationship taking off just months before he was drafted by the Detroit Lions in 2009.

Amid his mounting success on the field, Kelly—mom to their 9-year-old twin daughters Sawyer and Chandler, as well as Hunter, 7, and Tyler, 6—shared how maintaining her own identity proved difficult.

“You end up being this partner and your image is known as, you know, I was Matthew Stafford’s girlfriend and then I was Matthew Stafford’s fiancée, Matthew Stafford’s wife,” Kelly—who wed Matthew in 2015—said. “You tend to lose who you are, or I did.”

As for the game plan she’d give to her younger self to follow?

“I would remind myself to just stay true to the values I have,” Kelly explained, “remind her that I can chase after my own goals too, it doesn’t just have to be about his.”

Photo by Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images

Today, Kelly hopes to break the mold of what a WAG is altogether.

"I'm pretty old now in this game. Sometimes it’s tough to figure out the similarities with the young one or the young wives coming in or girlfriends," she said during an August 2025 episode of Sydney Leroux and Ali Riley's BFFR podcast. "But obviously, it’s best if we do get together because that’s the community."

And "being the quarterback's wife," Kelly noted, "there is a responsibility there."

However, the mom of four has carved out a career of her own through hosting her The Morning After podcast. And just as Kelly cheers on her husband on game day, Matthew never fumbles when it comes to supporting her dreams.

"Matthew and I are complete opposites," Kelly told E! News in 2024. "I'm an open book. He's very private. He loves that I do this. He loves that I have made something for myself."

For all the times Kelly and Matthew proved they’re a team against critics, read on…

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