Who Is Matthew Stafford's Wife? All About Kelly Stafford

Super Bowl-winning NFL quarterback Matthew Stafford and podcaster Kelly Stafford are college sweethearts.

They met while attending the University of Georgia and eventually tied the knot in 2015. Since then, they've welcomed four daughters — twins Sawyer and Chandler, Hunter and Tyler.

Matthew's wife and daughters are his biggest cheerleaders and are often seen cheering him on at football games.

"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them," Matthew told PEOPLE during a media conference in February 2022.

A year later, Kelly expressed similar sentiments on Instagram — calling Matthew her "rock."

"Having someone you can always depend on is one of the most underrated things in this life," she wrote in honor of her husband's 35th birthday. "We are so incredibly lucky to have you as our rock ... someone we can always lean on, snuggle with, make us feel safe and be our comfort."

Keep reading for everything to know about Kelly Stafford, Matthew Stafford's wife.

She's been with Matthew since college

Matthew and Kelly have known each other since college — they both studied at the University of Georgia, where Matthew became the first true freshman quarterback to start for the Georgia Bulldogs since 1998.

While the couple were on a break, Kelly dated Matthew's University of Georgia teammate, the backup quarterback. She said in an interview that she and Matthew "went back and forth there for a little bit with the love-hate," and that she "dated the backup to piss him off."

"I always loved Matthew, and I told myself I had to move on because this isn't happening. I started talking with the backup who was the complete opposite of Matthew, so it worked," she continued.

In January 2023, Matthew and Kelly attended the college football national championship, where Georgia beat Texas Christian University. The former cheerleader vlogged the entire day for her Instagram followers.

She married Matthew in 2015

After dating for several years, Kelly and Matthew got married in 2015. Kelly shared photos from the couple's wedding day on Instagram, including one of herself in her wedding dress.

According to Paper City, the wedding was a cell phone-free zone and all attendees were given a hat that they could customize. There was even a Nike shoe bar where guests could pick up a pair of Nike shoes for the day.

In May 2023, Kelly recapped the couple's wedding on her podcast, The Morning After. She also shared their wedding video on Instagram.

"All I see when I watch this is the man I love and how lucky I am to have a partner who is not only an incredible husband, but also a patient, loving father," she wrote alongside the clip. "I take him for granted more than I care to admit, but I believe that’s marriage..not the taking your partner for granted part, but realizing when you do and working to change it. Always a work in progress."

She's a registered nurse

While enrolled at the University of Georgia, Kelly studied nursing and became a registered nurse in 2014, sharing the news that she'd passed her exam on Instagram.

She co-hosts The Morning After podcast

Kelly launched her podcast, The Morning After, in September 2021. For two years, it was a solo endeavor, until she brought on a co-host — Hank Winchester, an award-winning reporter in Detroit and a close family friend.

During a podcast episode in August 2023, Kelly revealed to her listeners that Matthew was struggling to "connect" with his younger teammates on the Los Angeles Rams. Her comments caused significant controversy, which she later addressed during an interview with Local 4 Detroit.

"That was probably the worst thing I've done when it comes to [Matthew]," she admitted. "Probably not the best if your wife’s name is in the media if it’s talking about sports. I put my foot in my mouth pretty good last week."

She has a famous brother

Matthew isn't the only NFL pro who stays close to Kelly. According to ESPN, her brother, Chad Hall, is a wide receivers coach for the Buffalo Bills, and a former NFL player himself. Hall played with the Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs.

According to the Buffalo Bills' website, Hall also has a family of his own. He married Rose Pierce-Tenney in 2018, and the couple have a daughter and a son, making Kelly an aunt.

She and Matthew have four daughters

The pair have four children together — all girls. Identical twins Sawyer and Chandler arrived in March 2017, then Hunter in August 2018, followed by Tyler in June 2020. The proud mother of four often shares snaps of her family on social media.

In January 2024, all four girls wished their dad good luck with sideline hugs ahead of the emotional Rams vs. Detroit Lions playoff game.

She's spoken out about postpartum mental health

On an episode of her podcast, Kelly discussed her body image struggles after giving birth to Sawyer and Chandler in 2017. She described herself as being "very body-conscious" and found it difficult to be intimate with Matthew.

Kelly explained that she focused on trying to lose weight to the detriment of her marriage: "I was in a terrible place, and not only did I not have energy for Matthew, but I was so insecure about my body that I would not be naked near him ... I could not do it."

"It was really hard on our marriage because of my feelings toward my own body. Saying it out loud, it seems selfish, but that's where I was … I was so insecure, I didn't understand why my body wasn't doing what I was seeing all these other bodies do, and I was also exhausted because I'm trying to figure out how to take care of twins. I was in such a bad headspace, and I didn't know how to get out," she said.

She had a brain tumor removed in 2019

In April 2019, Kelly shared in an emotional Instagram post that she'd been diagnosed with a benign brain tumor, an acoustic neuroma, and would be undergoing surgery.

"Within the last year, I began to notice things that I thought was just me getting older … Things that I had been doing my entire life were now, all of a sudden, difficult," she said in the caption, also explaining that she'd experienced several spells of vertigo.

Later the same month, Kelly posted on Instagram that she underwent a 12-hour operation to remove the brain tumor and was in recovery. The operation was scheduled to last for six hours, but after the surgeon found an "abnormal" vein in her skull, the procedure took longer than expected.

She defended her husband after Super Bowl criticism

Like many elite athletes, Matthew has experienced criticism from fans from time to time. According to E! News, after the Los Angeles Rams won the 2022 Super Bowl, some started to question if Matthew could make it into the Hall of Fame.

Kelly responded to his critics in an Instagram post, saying: "Can y'all just let him enjoy this?!" She continued, "It went from Matthew can't win, to Matthew can't win against winning teams, to Matthew can't win big games, to Matthew can't win playoff games, to Matthew can't win it all … And now … the debate on the HOF?"

After Matthew's big win, Kelly also posted sweet photos of the couple kissing on Instagram with the caption, "My Champion."