The set is a hive of activity when I arrive. On a couch in one corner, Donna Kelce is curled up and relaxed. She has just flown from the set of Christmas on Call, the Hallmark movie that marks her onscreen debut and which will be out next month. The mother of two of the most famous football stars in America (that would be Jason and Travis Kelce, of course) is alone—no publicist, no stylist, no assistant—but she is immediately comfortable. When she tells me later that Jason and Travis have always been “unashamedly themselves,” I understand immediately that it’s a quality they inherited from her. A former banker, who watched her two sons face off in opposing teams in the 2022 Super Bowl, she has been regaling the crew with tales from her movie shoot, including the perils of filming in winter clothes during the height of the summer heat.
Meanwhile, in a pair of makeup chairs, Maggie Baird, mother to Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell, and Mandy Teefey, mother to Selena Gomez and Gracie Teefey, are deep in conversation. Fresh-faced and animated, both bear striking resemblances to their famous daughters—delicate bone structure, soulful features. But it’s their warmth and commitment to doing good that makes them as captivating as their A-list children. Baird, who was a working actor and musician before homeschooling her children, launched the nonprofit Support + Feed in 2020 to fight food scarcity and climate change. Teefey, whose daughters are in fact just next door, shooting a campaign in a neighboring studio for Rare Beauty, has collaborated with Gomez on the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why and cofounded the mental health startup Wondermind. No wonder the two seem to form an instant bond.
A few minutes later, Tina Knowles glides in. And I do mean glides. This woman—mother to two stars whose global renown is so universal that I don’t need to name them, do I?—floats on air. When she compliments our visual director on her hair, we all react as if someone in our midst has received a divine benediction. After all, Knowles now serves as vice chairwoman of Cécred, Beyoncé’s hair-care line. And in person, the fashion designer and philanthropist oozes more than power. She radiates the kind of specialness that makes the rest of us feel charmed.
But we have not gathered these women just to bask in their presence or laugh at their jokes (although that happens throughout the day). We’re here because when we drew up our annual list of the women defining our culture to honor as Glamour Women of the Year, we kept coming back to one truth: In speech after speech and in interview after interview, the people we most admire—actors, activists, athletes, moguls, trailblazers—all seem to credit the same person for their success. Mom.
Mothers have raised our icons and our champions. Mothers have believed in the artists we cherish, even when others counted them out. A mom encouraged Jason and Travis Kelce to bet on themselves on the field, nurtured Billie and Finneas, fought for Selena and Gracie, and inspired Beyoncé and Solange to believe the sky was the limit. To put it as they do, Who run the world? Moms.
But of course, I don’t need to tell you that mothers seldom get the thanks they deserve. The women responsible for the literal survival of the human race are often condescended to, overlooked, counted out, or dismissed. And even these beloved moms have experienced that kind of marginalization. So this year, we wanted to flip the script and make them the focus. They have so much to teach us about ambition, perseverance, and love. They’ve juggled the very ordinary moments of parenthood alongside the most extraordinary, from Super Bowls to Super Bowl halftime shows. Between them, they have raised the people who now dominate the worlds of sports, music, TV, beauty, and more. To me, their experiences sum up what Glamour is truly about: the intergenerational power of women.
There’s no question that Donna, Maggie, Mandy, and Tina, our mothers of the year, are iconic—as is their epic Glamour cover. But we aren’t just honoring them. This tribute is also a celebration of all the mothers who empower, encourage, and inspire greatness in their children.
Samantha Barry:
Welcome to an iconic group of mothers—women who have raised some of the most famous people in the world. I want to start with having you all introduce yourselves.
Maggie Baird:
I’m Maggie Baird. My children are Billie Eilish O’Connell and Finneas O’Connell—both musicians, songwriters, and all-around wonderful people.
Tina Knowles:
I’m Tina Knowles, and I’m the mother of three wonderful children: Beyoncé, Solange, and Kelly Rowland, a bonus daughter.
Mandy Teefey:
I’m Mandy Teefey. I am the mother of Selena Gomez and Gracie Teefey.
Donna Kelce:
I am Donna Kelce. I’m the mother of two football players, Jason and Travis, who are unashamedly themselves.
Samantha Barry:
I just want to get straight into motherhood and maybe what you imagined motherhood would look like for you and how it’s different from what you expected.
Donna Kelce:
Being a mom is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. It’s so much easier to just go to work, but raising children, when they’re totally dependent on you and you’re trying to do the best you can with the limited resources that you have, it’s the most daunting task I’ve ever had to do.
Mandy Teefey:
I had Selena at 16, so I really didn’t have any idea of what to expect. It’s almost like we grew up together. We joke that we’re going to have to be in retirement homes at the same time. We’re only 16 years apart. And then I had Gracie when I was later in life. So it’s been different experiences completely and a blessing, but yes, very daunting. Then you have the added pressure of them under the spotlight, and they’re trying to grow and be themselves and go through what every other kid goes through, and they don’t get to do that free of judgment.
Samantha Barry:
I want to talk about that because for a lot of you, your children found success very early. Tina, what did you expect motherhood to look like and how is it different?
Tina Knowles:
I expected it to look very much like it did. I felt so honored to have that job. It’s been the best job that I’ve ever had.
Maggie Baird:
I lost my mother in my 20s, but I had always wanted to be a mother. I don’t think I was prepared for the depth of the love and the joy. Every creative skill you have, every talent you’ve ever had—everything is needed in that job. So I found that very fulfilling.
Samantha Barry:
Was there a moment where you realized your child was going to buck any expectation that you had for what their life would look like? And you going, “Oh wow, what does this mean for me as a mother”?
Mandy Teefey:
You just go with it. What else is there to do? You roll with the punches and support what their passion is. I think just like any other parent, you do the best that you can do and navigate those tough waters.
Donna Kelce:
You don’t understand how your children relate to other children across the country. You know what they’re doing in your particular part of the world, but until they start getting involved in tournaments or people outside of your city, then you understand that they’re different, and you just try as a parent, I think, to support your child in whatever they love to do and just revel in it really.
Samantha Barry:
Was there a moment for you where you were on the sidelines of early football tournaments and you’re like, These boys have got something?
Donna Kelce:
They didn’t start playing football until they were in the seventh grade. So there were many other sports like hockey, lacrosse, basketball—everything you could possibly imagine. They were always athletic, but you just don’t know until you start getting those letters from colleges and then, Okay, they may have something.
Samantha Barry:
And Tina, in your house, was there a moment for you where you thought, They’ve got a bigger path than we expected?
Tina Knowles:
Yes. I think Beyoncé was seven and her dance teacher put her in a talent show with bigger kids all the way up to high school. And I was like, That’s not fair. She’s only seven! We had put her in dance because she was shy, and I mean, she got on that stage and commanded the stage and my husband and I were like, Who is that? Because the confidence came in. I could see it. It was something that happened on that stage that I had never seen before.
Samantha Barry:
When you see the confidence in your children and you see them do so well, are there moments of motherhood where you want to keep them more grounded as they’re on the way up?
Maggie Baird:
People would always say to me, “Is your mind blown that Billie is playing Radio City or Madison Square Garden?” And I was like, “My mind was blown when she played The Hi Hat in Highland Park.” [This 300-seat independent music venue in LA has since closed.] It’s all relative. You feel it all. You’re just a family, and it’s all very normal, and then the world kind of puts everything else on it. You step onstage in front of 100,000 people, and that’s an hour and a half, and then the rest of the time you’re at the dinner table and your brother is giving you shit. The family part is the part that keeps it sane.
Samantha Barry:
Do you still get to do those normal things with your kids? Is there anything that you’ve had to give up in the world of fame?
Tina Knowles:
Solange just won’t play the game. She’ll just go shopping. But obviously that’s not something that we can do with Beyoncé, and that’s what I miss. I miss us going to the grocery store, going with my kids to eat at the cafeteria. You don’t get to go to the mall anymore.
Mandy Teefey:
I always use Disneyland as the example. You have to go in the back where all the mechanical things are, and you don’t really get to go through the park. You do miss out on that. We used to go to Target and just hang out at Target and just shop and do silly things, but you can’t do that anymore.
Samantha Barry:
For three of you in particular, your children found fame very young. For the boys, Donna, it was a little later in life.
Donna Kelce:
I think you just bring things up that they did when they were children to just show them that they’re like everybody else—how many broken windows there were, how many times I had a call from the neighbor. They weren’t mean children or bad children; it’s just that they were very rambunctious. I think it’s just bringing them back to their childhood—what they’re most grateful for and where they were able to have a platform to grow.
Samantha Barry:
And is there anything you miss doing with your boys now?
Donna Kelce:
We can’t go anywhere, really. If we want to do something, you have to rent out the restaurant or the movie theater or whatever. I do get to sneak away every once in a while, and we go to places that nobody knows where they are.
Samantha Barry:
Your kids are surrounded by, I’m guessing, a lot of people that work for them, that are on their payroll. How do you cut through that as a mother and say, “This is the right thing. This is the wrong thing. You need to listen to me.”
Maggie Baird:
Everyone has an agenda, and that’s not necessarily a bad word. But they do have an agenda. Your agenda is that your child should be happy and healthy and fulfilled and give back to the world.
Tina Knowles:
Very early on, I started doing the girls’ hair to earn my keep, so that I could travel with them because I wanted to protect them—not because I wanted to go and be on planes every day, because there was nothing glamorous about it, but it was to protect my kids. The industry can chew you up and spit you out. And I was determined that there were not going to be certain elements around them and that they weren’t going to get eaten up by that. It just became my mission. Those are your kids, and you want to protect them and they need protection. Trust me, they need it.
Samantha Barry:
Was there a moment that sticks out for you in the early days that you went total Mama Bear?
Tina Knowles:
Every day, every day. I’m pretty quiet, but when it came to my kids, I didn’t play.
Samantha Barry:
Tina, is there a proudest moment for you?
Tina Knowles:
There are so many proud moments, and it might sound cliché, but it’s the truest statement I could ever make: I’m the most proud when they do something that is artful that they love, but that also has good repercussions on the world. I can’t stop smiling. After a while, you get kind of used to the big moments, but those kinds of moments are really, really different.
I’m proud to say that I do see the things that I instilled in them—treat people well, do not get stuck on yourself—because we had some moments where I was like, “Listen, they can pick up their own suitcases.” “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. I don’t believe that that’s something that they just get, 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.” So I’m most proud when they’re good people.
Samantha Barry:
Mandy, you’ve spoken before about somebody trying to hold Selena’s umbrella, and you’re like, “Let her hold her own umbrella.”
Mandy Teefey:
That is one of my favorite stories. 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, and 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.
Samantha Barry:
Have any of you ever been the instigator of “You need to take some time off”?
Tina Knowles:
For me, all the time. I’m always fighting. My kids like to work, and they like to be creative, and I think that’s wonderful, but you do need that time when you don’t have the pressure and the stress of it. I’m always preaching that, but it doesn’t seem to be working too well.
Samantha Barry:
Mandy, there are moments for you that you have worked with Selena and there are moments you haven’t. How do you make that decision?
Mandy Teefey:
I think if it makes sense, you do it. But at a certain point, when you’re talking more about work than you’re talking about family, that’s when you put the brakes on. We love being creative together. We love telling stories. Mental health is something that’s very important to both of us. So that’s cohesive and that makes sense, and we know that it’s not going to cause problems in the family. And now when she comes over, we don’t talk about work, and when she leaves, it’s like, “Okay, here’s an email and answer when you can.”
Samantha Barry:
Maggie, you were in the industry of Hollywood before you had your two children, and a resurfaced clip of you on Friends ended up on the internet recently. How was that for you?
Maggie Baird:
I think it’s hilarious. Because that came out, and it was like, “Oh, Billie is a nepo baby.” And I’m like, “Did you know that I got that episode of Friends because I was about to lose my health insurance?”
My husband and I are working class actors. 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. I think that people don’t really understand there’s a whole industry of people who are creative and they’re working and they’re struggling, and they make perfectly happy lives, and they feel creative, and they feel fulfilled. But that’s a very different life than on this side of the door where you’re suddenly playing in this different arena.
Samantha Barry:
Day in, day out, the media, Instagram, TikTok, are fascinated with your children. Do you stop reading the comments? Do you jump in?
Donna Kelce:
Oh, man. It’s best just not to get involved and not to even go there.
Tina Knowles:
I take it with a grain of salt most of the time. It depends. You mess with my grandchildren, though, I’m coming. Because they’re minors, and they didn’t ask to be in this. I have gotten on and let people have a piece of my mind several times, but I take a lot and then there’s certain things that I just have to draw the line on.
Samantha Barry:
Is there something you wish the world knew about your children that they don’t?
Tina Knowles:
My children are good people first. They don’t mess with anybody. They’re not the ones making comments; they just mind their business and do their work. It’s enough already. That’s the hardest part about this whole thing because they’re your children. You want to protect them. My kids are like, “Ma, don’t you answer those crazy things. Just ignore them.” And I can to a certain degree, but sometimes it just gets to be too much, and I have to say what I have to say, and then I’m done with it.
Maggie Baird:
To me, I wish people knew they’re all human. I think that is the biggest point. I remember very clearly when Billie did the Brit Awards, and she was in a low spot, and it was because of the internet…. You get a bad review in a local paper—you know what I mean?—that’s a bummer. But you don’t have millions of people commenting on you. And it is kind of an experimental generation that we are parenting.
Samantha Barry:
Two of you are grandmothers as well as mothers. How has that changed motherhood for you?
Donna Kelce:
It’s fun! It’s just fun seeing how your children act with their kids—trying to find out what kind of a parent they’re going to be, watching your son be a father is just like, “How can they be so tender and be such a maniac out on the field?” Travis is a good uncle, and Jason’s a great dad, and it’s just very heartwarming to know that they have that within them to be very nurturing, very kind, very gentle—especially with girls.
Samantha Barry:
For you, Tina?
Tina Knowles:
Oh God, the best. I’m headed straight on a plane when I leave here to go spend time with my grandchildren. I become a kid. I was in the Hamptons with them, and I mean, I swung on a swing every day and swam and had fun. It’s like being a kid again. And I’m not as stressed out about how they’re going to turn out. I don’t have that responsibility. So I can buy all the noisy toys that get on their parents’ nerves and do things that I didn’t get to do with my kids. It’s the best.
Samantha Barry:
Do you see your daughters as similar to the type of mother that you were?
Tina Knowles:
Yes, very much so. All of them are.
Samantha Barry:
I want to go back. You talked about being a working actor, Maggie. We have a newly minted working actor on set who’s just coming off a Hallmark Christmas movie. Can you tell us about it, Donna?
Donna Kelce:
I can’t really say a whole heck of a lot, but I can say that it was really interesting. It’s kind of fun to see people that have been in the industry and to try to learn from them, because I’m such a novice. I just started. I just have been fortunate because people know who I am. I know where this is coming from. I know they’re interested because of who my children are and who they know, and I just take it with a grain of salt. But it was really fun.
Samantha Barry:
What are your favorite depictions of motherhood in pop culture, whether that’s TV or movies?
Donna Kelce:
My favorite was Clair Huxtable. She was a lawyer. She was a mother of five, and she was a wife, and she could do it all. And I’m like, “That’s who I want to be like.”
Maggie Baird:
Currently, America Ferrara’s character in Barbie. Was there ever a better speech that summed it all up? That was a nice depiction of this devoted mother who was trying so hard.
Samantha Barry:
That line in Barbie—that’s honestly one of the lines that I thought about for this cover. “We mothers stand still so our daughters can look back to see how far they’ve come.”
Maggie Baird:
I had a special relationship to Barbie because my kids wrote that song. But I also laughed my head off, and I thought it was just one of the most fun experiences ever to see that movie. And everybody was so great. But that line—I think it’s a balance, right? We don’t want to just be like, “We are here so you can go here.”
In 2012, I decided to make a movie. I wrote the movie with a friend, and I did a Kickstarter for the money. And the reason I did it was because I wanted to show my kids that you could make something happen. You don’t have to wait for somebody to say yes to you. You can just make it happen. That probably had nothing to do with what happened because that success was all them. But I do think it’s important. I think it’s important that as you are hoping your children go much farther than you, you still have your own life. You can still do; you can create. It’s equally important.
Donna Kelce:
I agree. I think it is a mix of both. I was a commercial banker for a bank in several different states. I wanted to get ahead. I worked really, really hard. I was a major breadwinner in the family. And I think it’s important for kids to see that a woman can do whatever she wants, but I did stand still too. 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. But in that one respect, I did stand still for several years until I could move on on my own.
Photographer: Danielle Levitt
Stylist: Kat Typaldos
Hair for Maggie Baird and Donna Kelce: Nelson Vercher
Makeup for Maggie Baird and Donna Kelce: Eden Lattanzio
Hair and makeup for Mandy Teefey: Emily Dawn
Hair for Tina Knowles: Nakia Rachon
Makeup for Tina Knowles: Armando Kole
Production: Isaac Feria
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