Kelly Stafford, the wife of Los Angeles Rams' quarterback Matthew Stafford, has apologized for claiming her husband had been struggling to "bond" with the new rookies, and acknowledged that it was "probably the worst thing I’ve done".
Kelly told listeners of her podcast The Morning After with Kelly Stafford that 35-year-old Matthew, who led his team to Super Bowl victory in 2022, was unable to "connect" with the newcomers to the team, claiming that they were all "on their phones" and that he was forced to print out a book of their faces in order to get to know their names.
In response, Kelly told Local4 Detroit that she knew she had "put my foot in my mouth pretty good last week".
"I spoke on a topic that I think, it’s relatable to the fact that it’s hard to relate to someone who is ten years younger than you. And I do think that’s entirely true. But I’m not in an NFL locker room, I’m not spending every day with these teammates,” Kelly admitted.
"That was tough. I say this all the time, probably not the best if your wife’s name is in the media, if it’s talking about sports. I felt pretty bad last week. I put my foot in my mouth pretty good last week."
The pre-season has seen the LA Rams lose all three of their games; they lost 41-0 to the Denver Broncos. Their opening game of the main season will take place on Sunday September 10 against the Seattle Seahawks. This season's rookies include Steve Avila, who was drafted in the second round, and Byron Young and Kobie Turner.
"Matthew’s been in the league for a long time,” Kelly had shared last week, adding that the football star had said that "the difference in the locker room has changed so significantly".
"He’s like, ‘I feel like I can’t connect.’ Because in the old days, you’d come out of practice, you’d shower, people would be playing cards, people would be interacting. Who knows what they’re doing but they’re doing something together, they’re playing ping pong, they have a tournament going on, they’re at least talking. "He said now, they get done with practice, get done meetings during training camp, and they go straight to their phones, like no one looks up from their phones."
"'They say ‘sir’ to him… He’s like, ‘No, we’re on the same level here, we’re both playing in this league, let me get to know you'. But he said it’s so different and it’s so hard to get to know these guys."
Matthew and Kelly met when he studied at the University of Georgia where Kelly was a cheerleader. In 2021 they picked up their entire life in Detroit, Michigan, and moved to California for a brand new life, where Matthew helped the Rams win the Super Bowl in his first season with the team.
They are parents to seven-year-old twins Sawyer and Chandler, five-year-old Hunter, and three-year-old daughter Tyler.
But the pair have also been through enormous heartache; in 2019 Kelly was diagnosed with acoustic neuroma, a rare non-cancerous brain tumor.
While pregnant with their third child, Kelly began experiencing dizziness, and after first being given a prescription for vertigo, she underwent an MRI which revealed she had a tumor sitting on her cranial nerves and she would need surgery to remove it.
After a grueling 12-hour surgery, the 34-year-old's tumor was successfully removed.
However, she has shared details of the aftereffects, including revea;ing that her "new norms" include not liking "loud, busy restaurants" as much as she used to and having to tell people that she is now slightly "hard of hearing".
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