Kylie Kelce addressed the 2024 graduates of her alma mater Cabrini University ahead of its indefinite closure next month and name-dropped her husband Jason Kelce in her speech.
Kylie Kelce said goodbye to her alma mater.
The 32-year-old, who is married to Jason Kelce, sent off Cabrini University’s final graduating class on May 19 with a commencement speech that included playful teasing of herself and the school, as it will close indefinitely June 30.
“First, your high school graduation was stolen from you by a global pandemic, then your college announced it was closing and your senior year was spent on a campus that resembled a ghost town,” Kylie opened her speech at the ceremony, before joking. “You couldn’t even get a top five Kelce as your commencement speaker.”
She went on to reference the moving retirement speech from professional football Jason—with whom she shares children Wyatt, 4, Elliotte, 3, and Bennett, 15 months—made in March and noted her speech would not quite match with the emotion.
“My husband Jason Kelce is known for giving some pretty earth-shattering speeches,” Kylie continued. “He did not help me in writing my words today so you can go ahead and lower those expectations.”
She further gave a nod to her family’s meteoric rise to fame when Jason’s brother Travis Kelce began dating Taylor Swift last fall.
“What an honor it is to speak to you today,” she added. “When I was asked, my first instinct was, ‘Absolutely not.’ Contrary to the current state of the pop culture news cycle, I really prefer to fly under the radar.”
However, the Cabrini University 2017 graduate managed to deliver a heartfelt speech about her time at the school, where she played field hockey, and gave the soon-to-depart students some age-old advice—fake it until you make it.
Lisa Lake/Getty Images for Prime Video
“Just look at me now. I’m 32, mom of three, where did the time go?” Kylie expressed. “I couldn’t tell you, but what I can tell you is I have no idea what I’m doing.”
For someone who claims to be taking life one step at a time, Kylie has supported her family through a whirlwind few years. After all, the Philadelphia Eagles—the team where her husband spent his entire 13-year NFL career—won the Super Bowl just months before she and Jason tied the knot in 2018.
Then, just days before the duo welcomed their youngest daughter in 2023, Jason went head-to-head with Travis’ team, the Kansas City Chiefs, in the Super Bowl. (Travis’ team ultimately came out on top.)
And while Kylie maintains a humble outlook on herself, Jason has given her the credit she deserves in the past.
“I think it’s no coincidence I have enjoyed my best years of my career with Kylie by my side,” Jason said during his retirement speech in March. “Every accolade I have ever received has come with her in my life. She has brought the best out of me through love, devotion, support, honesty, intelligence, and, of course, a swift kick in the ass from time to time.”
Keep reading for more insight into Kylie and Jason’s romance.
Instagram/@kykelce
2015
Jason Kelce doesn’t want you to know he met his wife Kylie Kelce on a dating app. Too bad she wasn’t afraid to reveal how their relationship began in the Prime Video Kelce documentary.
“Jason won’t let me lie about this,” Kylie shared. “We met on Tinder.”
When Kylie first encountered Jason’s profile, she didn’t recognize the Philadelphia Eagles center, explaining, “None of his pictures showed Eagles football.”
However, after she and her friends thought he looked “kind of familiar,” they did what millennial women do best: A Google image search. And when Kylie put a name to the face, she was confident she was being played.
“It can’t be him,” she remembered thinking, “it’s a catfish.”
Still, she took a chance. And in 2015, she shared the first photo of the couple on Instagram, writing, “Thank goodness you swiped right too.”
Kylie Kelce/Instagram
2015
While Jason and Kylie ultimately hit it off, their first date didn’t go according to the game plan.
“You fell asleep 45 minutes after I got there on the bar table because he was too drunk,” Kylie revealed on Jason’s New Heights podcast, which he co-hosts with his brother Travis Kelce.
Though he was admittedly “inebriated,” Jason said, “I was sober enough to know it was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life. It was love at first sight.”
Still, Kylie admitted it took her awhile to fully commit to the idea of being in a relationship with a professional athlete.
“I didn’t tell anyone who I was dating,” she explained. “The last thing I wanted was to be like, ‘I think I’m falling for this guy and then have him be like, ‘Oh, I have six other girls waiting,’ which is the stereotype of a football player.”
However, in hindsight, Kylie admitted. “It’s entertaining that there was any hesitation at all.”
“Our dynamic made it so not that I was in a relationship with a professional athlete,” she continued, “it was very much that I was in a relationship wth Jason whose profession was football.”
Instagram/Kylie Kelce
August 2017
She said yes! But only after putting up with some of Jason’s B.S.
During the Sept. 7 episode of the New Heights podcast, the couple shared their engagement story, which Jason prefaced by admitting he is not a “romantic” person.
The NFL star proposed to Kylie in his car while they were leaving her parents’ house.
“I couldn’t figure out how to inconspicuously go back into the house,” he explained, “because if I was like, ‘Hey I gotta go talk to you dad for a second,’ it would have been very odd of me to say that.”
Instead, Jason went with, um, option No. 2: “When we got in the car, I said, ‘Ky, I’m sorry but I gotta take a s–t.'”
However, Kylie immediately knew Jason was up to something when he returned minutes later. “He came back out and I said, ‘Jason, I know you didn’t just go in there and take a s—t, it usually takes you 20 minutes.'”
Jason then cut the bulls–t and got down to business.
“He said, ‘This isn’t the most romantic way to do this,'” Kylie recalled, “and I immediately started crying because I knew what was happening only because he referenced being romantic.”
April 2018
Two months after winning his first Super Bowl, Jason added an even more special ring to his collection when he and Kylie tied the knot in Philadelphia.
To celebrate their one-year wedding anniversary, Kylie shared some throwback pictures from their wedding day.
“One year ago today we stood in front of our closest friends and family and vowed our love and commitment to each other,” she wrote. “I am so beyond grateful that I get to share my life with this man.”
Instagram/Kylie Kelce
October 2019
The couple welcomed their first daughter, Wyatt Elizabeth Kelce, on Oct. 2. And to celebrate Wyatt’s first birthday, Kylie shared several photos from the delivery room on Instagram.
“One year ago this little bug was snuggled up on my chest for her first night out in the world. I will never get tired of your cuddles, Wy,” she wrote. “Also, swipe to see what is truly one of my favorite photos in my phone. Mid-push, veins popping out of my head, and the biggest cheesin grin on Jason’s face. Minutes later, we were parents.”
Instagram/@kykelce
March 2021
The Kelces welcomed their second child, daughter Elliotte Rya Kelce, into the world on March 4.
Kylie shared a sweet video of Elliotte to celebrate her six-month birthday, writing, “Full of smiles, laughs, and sweetness.”
And, for her first post of 2022, Kylie captioned a photo of Elliotte, “Best thing to come out of 2021.”
Instagram/@jason.kelce
February 2023
When Jason and Travis faced off against one another at the 2023 Super Bowl, Kylie had a very special guest attending the game with her.
“Kylie’s bringing her OB because she’s going to be 38 weeks pregnant at the game,” Jason said on the podcast. “That could be a super Kelce Bowl. If she has a baby in the stadium, it’s officially scripted!”
Travis joked, “We’re in The Matrix, there’s no f–king way.”
Instagram/@kykelce
February 2023
While Uncle Trav may have won the Kelce Bowl when the Chiefs defeated the Eagles, Jason received an even sweeter prize two weeks later when he and Kylie welcomed their third daughter.
“Yesterday little lady #3 joined us,” the couple shared on Instagram. “Bennett Llewellyn Kelce 8lbs. 5oz. and 21inches long.”
Their daughter was named in honor of Jason’s grandmother through Bennett’s middle name, Llewellyn.
“It’s Grandma Mary’s maiden name,” Jason shared on New Heights. “I wanted to honor Grandma Mary, who is now resting in peace. She had a good run.”
Instagram/@kykelce
August 2023
Kylie and all three daughters visited Jason at the Philadelphia Eagles training camp, with the couple sharing pics in a joint Instagram post.
“Here for the Rita’s and obstacle courses with dad after practice,” the caption read.
Jason’s dad skills were on full display in the Kelce documentary on Prime Video, in which Kylie shared her honest thoughts on Jason’s retirement.
“I always tell people that no matter what happens with football, how it ends,” she said, “I would like him to retire when he’s still able to get down on the floor and play with our kids comfortably.”
