Four women have been there for Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Selena Gomez and Travis Kelce on their respective rises to superstardom over the years, and they aren’t their agents, managers or publicists. They’re their moms.
Tina Knowles, Maggie Baird, Mandy Teefey and Donna Kelce got a rare moment in the spotlight on Thursday (Oct. 3) with the publication of Glamour‘s new Women of the Year cover story, which features all four of the women posing together. In a group discussion, the quartet opened up about the best and worst parts of parenting kids who become globally famous, from watching their children perform in front of thousands of people to feeling limited on when and where they can go without being bombarded by fans and paparazzi.
At one point, Knowles and Teefey — moms to Bey and the Wizards of Waverly Place alum, respectively — bonded over making sure their daughters didn’t turn into divas despite finding fame as teenagers.
“We had some moments where I was like, ‘Listen, they can pick up their own suitcases,’” Knowles recalled of the “Break My Soul” singer. “’You look people in the eye, say hello, don’t turn into a diva. That’s not going to work here.’ You have to teach your kids that … because everybody’s trying to handle everything for them and kissing their butts sometimes. And I am like, ‘No, no, no, you’re not helpless.’”
Teefey had a similar story about Gomez. “She was getting out of the trailer, and there was an umbrella, and they were holding it for her, and then they were bringing her food and all this stuff,” the producer told the other three moms. “I was like, ‘She can hold her own umbrella.’ She needs to learn how to pump her own gas in her car. She needs to be a person first.”
Baird — mom to the “Bad Guy” musician as well as producer Finneas — and NFL matriarch Kelce also found common ground when talking about their family’s home lives pre-fame. “My husband and I are working class actors,” Support + Feed founder Baird said. “We eked out a meager living, and it afforded us a lot of time with our kids, which was awesome. But the industry is primarily people like us or even people not even like us who couldn’t even do that. So when all of this happened to our kids, we’d never been on that side of it.”
“It was like, ‘Oh, Billie is a nepo baby,’” Baird added of the internet’s past response to finding out she was an actress. “And I’m like, ‘Did you know that I got that episode of Friends because I was about to lose my health insurance?’”
“I was a commercial banker for a bank in several different states,” said Kelce, who shares both Travis and retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce with ex-husband Ed Kelce. “I was a major breadwinner in the family… My husband and I knew that our marriage was not working, but we stayed together for the kids. Ours was a very friendly relationship. So, we could do that and make sure that their life was normal as possible.”
The interview comes as the Kansas City Chiefs tight end is at peak levels of fame, thanks in large part to his romance with Taylor Swift. The same could be said for Bey, Gomez and Eilish as well, with the Destiny’s Child star garnering Grammy buzz for her latest Billboard 200-topping album Cowboy Carter, the Rare Beauty founder recently crossing into billionaire status and the “Happier Than Ever” artist embarking on a global arena tour over the weekend.
After the Glamour cover story came out, Gomez shared it on her Instagram Story and wrote, “Congratulations mommy.”
See Knowles, Baird, Teefey and Donna Kelce on the cover of Glamour below.
