“He Was Three, Climbing for the Keys”: Donna Kelce Reveals the Shocking, Near-Disaster Childhood of Jason and Travis—From Garage Crash to Knives

In the world of the NFL, the Kelce family has achieved a legendary status that transcends the sport itself. Jason Kelce, the stalwart center for the Philadelphia Eagles, and Travis Kelce, the charismatic tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, are icons of modern athleticism, known for their on-field dominance, off-field personalities, and an undeniable closeness forged through shared experience. Yet, in a recent revealing conversation, the matriarch of this iconic family, Donna Kelce, affectionately known as ‘Mama Kelce,’ pulled back the curtain on their early years, proving that the chaos they bring to the gridiron is merely an echo of the life they lived as young boys.

Appearing on the ‘Not Going to Lie’ podcast, hosted by her daughter-in-law, Kylie Kelce, Donna provided a sensational and often terrifying glimpse into a childhood defined by an almost unbelievable level of fearless, rule-breaking mayhem. These weren’t just rambunctious kids; these were two little boys who seemed determined to challenge the laws of physics, safety, and parental sanity, turning their suburban home into a non-stop, high-stakes action film.

The Garage Door Incident: A Three-Year-Old Behind the Wheel

The most startling revelation came when Donna recounted a story she had been “saving for the perfect moment,” detailing an incident that could have ended in unimaginable tragedy. The story centers on a seemingly innocuous object—the car keys—which Donna had to keep “up high,” just like she had to keep the knives. The focus of this particular catastrophe was a three-year-old Travis, who demonstrated a preternatural, almost frightening cunning.

“Travis for some reason was opening up the drawers and he was climbing up them,” Donna explained, detailing his meticulous, ladder-like ascent up the cupboards to reach the keys. It was a moment of distraction—Donna was in the bathroom—that allowed the young rule-breaker to execute his plan. When she came out and walked to the back door, she saw the two boys, both seated in the car.

The car was locked, but three-year-old Travis, the future NFL star known for studying defensive schemes, had been studying his parents’ routines. Donna noted he would “watch us like a hawk. He knew exactly what we were doing. He knew how to unlock the car door, get into it and then slam it shut.” What followed was a disaster only a Kelce could orchestrate.

Climbing onto the driver’s seat, Travis put the keys in the ignition, knowing exactly what to do. “And turned it on and it jumped and went right through the uh garage door,” Donna recalled, her voice still reflecting a trace of the original terror. Sitting right next to him was a jubilant Jason, thrilled by the anarchy. “Jason thank goodness was sitting next to him and he was just like that’s he was so excited,” she said.

Kylie, hearing the story, offered a modern, hilarious spin: “I wouldn’t be surprised if Jason wasn’t following him to say ‘Nope turn. Now you nope put the. Nope Put the. Nope Put the key in the hole and now you’re going to. Now you’re going to want to turn it’.” Regardless of who was the mastermind, the fact remains: Travis, at the age of three, successfully hot-wired and crashed the family car, narrowly missing a terrible outcome. From that day forward, Donna was forced to abandon hiding spots and keep the keys “on my purse.”

The Knife-Throwing Terror and Grandma’s Headbutt

The car incident was far from an isolated event. Donna’s parental history is a testament to the daily battle of wills she faced, a chaotic reality that contrasts sharply with the “nice” experience Kylie describes having with her four young girls.

One of the most instantly viral anecdotes detailed a time Jason, the older brother and perhaps the more cerebral rule-follower as an adult, was the agent of the chaos. Donna had just returned from daycare and gone upstairs to change out of her work clothes. Suddenly, a person from across the street was screaming: “Oh my god he’s got a knife.”

Donna knew instinctively who it was. Jason, tall enough to reach the high cabinet where she kept all “sharp away from both of them,” had secured the kitchen knives. In a moment of sheer parental panic, she ran downstairs and out onto the street, wearing only “my shorts on and a bra.” Jason was “literally throwing it up in the in the air and it would come down and hit the ground and grass.” The terrifying image of the knife narrowly missing Travis’s head haunted her: “Oh my god that could have went right through his head.” The neighborhood, seeing the wild scene, was reportedly “clapping on the street” when she emerged to stop the madness, a testament to the entertainment value the Kelce boys provided their community.

Beyond near-fatal injuries, Jason also demonstrated an early propensity for physical chaos, a trait he shares with his brother. Donna recounted how a young Jason “headbutted grandma.” While he and his cousin used to do it “all the time” as a game, the one playful headbutt he delivered to his grandmother, at an age when he “wasn’t even walking,” was powerful enough to “pretty much knock… their grandmother out.” Another memory, dating back to when Jason was two months old, involved him picking up a heavy hairdryer and swinging it, hitting his mother over the head. These were not acts of malice, Donna asserted, but simply the physical, boundary-pushing exuberance that defined raising the two future football titans.

Boys vs. Girls: The Great Divide

The conversation between Kylie and Donna naturally migrated to the differences between raising boys and girls. Kylie, a mother of four daughters, noted that they often begin the day with a “nice drawing coloring session.” Donna’s response was immediate and relatable to any mother of high-energy boys.

“The thing that just amazes me is how they will sit down and do a craft for a certain period of time,” Donna confessed. Her experience was the polar opposite: “It was constantly running around, jumping off of things, getting into trouble, you know, running out the door, starting the car up, you know, when they were three.”

She used the analogy of two fields of children playing soccer: the girls will gather in a circle and kick the ball to one another, adhering to the rules. The boys, however, will be doing “everything but what they’re told to do”—playing basketball with the soccer ball, hitting each other, and wrestling on the floor. This chaotic energy meant that Jason, the older child, was often the more compliant one who would “listen and follow the rules.” Travis, however, was the true wild card. “Travis isn’t a rule follower. No, no, he… he runs to the tune of his own drum,” Donna stated.

Despite the hair-raising challenges, Donna spoke of the deep pride she has in the men they became. She praised Jason’s gentle nature as a father, noting that he now has a “softer side of him that I don’t think I’ve ever seen before” and that he “definitely loves his girls.” This gentleness, combined with his continued love of “throw[ing] them up in the air,” paints a picture of a man who successfully channeled his childhood anarchy into both a powerful athleticism and a loving paternal energy.

A Quiet Life After the Chaos

The discussion of chaos and rule-breaking takes on an ironic context given the current events surrounding Travis Kelce. While the main conversation centered on their past, an end-segment in the podcast provided a flurry of updates on Travis’s personal life, particularly his high-profile relationship with pop superstar Taylor Swift.

Following the initial interview, a news update segment detailed that the couple is currently “actively wedding planning” and “hunting for their forever home.” The insider notes emphasize that the pair likes having a “low-key home life” and love to “turn their phones off and have no distractions.”

This dream of “simplicity and normal[ity]” is exactly what Taylor Swift herself has romanticized, having previously sung about wanting Travis to “leave us the f—k alone” and dreaming about a “driveway with a basketball hoop.” It’s a vision of domestic tranquility that stands in stark contrast to the home Travis grew up in, a place where keys were hidden, knives were weapons, and three-year-olds drove cars through garage doors. The irony is poignant: the boy who brought so much chaos is now seeking a utopia of quiet domesticity with his superstar fiancée.

Donna Kelce’s revelations are more than just entertaining stories; they are the genesis of the Kelce phenomenon. They explain the unshakeable confidence, the physical toughness, the emotional intensity, and the sheer fearlessness both brothers display. It was a chaotic, dangerous, and loving upbringing that taught them to negotiate (advice Donna passes on to Kylie: “every once in a while let them fight because that’s great advice,”) and how to survive. The Kelce household was not for the faint of heart, but out of that terrifying chaos emerged two of the most successful and beloved athletes of a generation. Mama Kelce not only raised two champions but, in telling these stories, she’s proven that the real miracle of her sons’ success is simply that they survived their childhood at all.