DINH DOONG

Donna Kelce is one supportive mother and a wise one too. The matriarch has been spotted cheering her sons on the field. While Jason has announced his retirement from the NFL, Travis is riding high on the waves of his newfound success. The Kansas City Chiefs tight end is set to make his acting debut and momma Kelce offered blunt advice.

In an exclusive interview with Variety, Donna showed her support for her son’s new venture, saying, “I know he wanted to do this, and I know he can manifest things. He has no fear of trying things, and he has no fear of failure.” Additionally, she said that while parents feel it’s their responsibility “to fix things for their kids, sometimes it’s better to just let them fail. You learn the most from things you don’t do well,” and hoped that “he’ll [Travis] get better at it.”

Grotesquerie, the new FX murder-thriller series, also stars Nicholas Alexander Chavez of Murphy’s Monsters and Broadway’s Micaela Diamond. Kelce plays the role of a charming bed nurse in the spine-chilling show. During the New York premiere, the co-chairman of Disney Entertainment, Dana Walden, announced, “I don’t know if you heard this or not, [but] a very special person named Travis Kelce is making his acting debut in this show.”

While a supporting mother is great, a girlfriend who also cheers for you is the cherry on top. And Kelce is one lucky guy. The football champion’s Ladylove and pop sensation Taylor Swift couldn’t be more excited to see her boyfriend on the big screen. The Cruel Summer hitmaker is very much on board with Kelce’s new career and “wanted” it for him.

Executive producer and famous creator Ryan Murphy revealed in an interview, “The only thing that [Travis and I] talked about was that she’s [Taylor] very supportive of him, and if he has an interest, she wanted him to try it. I was thrilled about that,” as per OK! Magazine. In addition, Murphy also noted that he’s only heard good things about Swift and he “loves her too.”

Murphy also sang praises of Kelce, “A star is a star is a star — and he’s a star. He’s so charismatic, and he’s so smart, he’s lovely. He had a window of time. He asked me to work up something for him. I did. It was an honor.” Though he admitted that Kelce had what it takes, he was initially hesitant to take up the role. “He went into that knowing it was going to be a little scary, and it was for him.” But despite inhibitions, Kelce defied expectations.

Meanwhile, the makers aren’t the only ones who were impressed by Kelce. His co-star Niecy Nash-Betts also gushed over his acting chops, as she told PEOPLE, “Travis was very open. He was very open on if there was a note given or a suggestion given,” adding that she was even “fangirling” whenever he was on set.