Kelly Stafford, the wife of Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, added her voice to the mix after Sydney Sweeney’s recent naked sports betting ad campaign stirred major debate.
Kelly, 37, took to her Instagram Story on Monday, September 14, sharing a video from influencer Daniel Hong, in which he opined about the message that Sweeney’s racy Novig campaign — showing the Euphoria actress fully naked with various sports items covering her body — sends to his two young daughters.
“THIS THIS THIS THIS,” Kelly commented on the clip.
Kelly and Matthew, 38, share four daughters: twins Sawyer and Chandler, 9, Hunter, 8 and Tyler, 6.
“Seeing this whole Sydney Sweeney controversy just confirms what I already knew I have to teach my daughters, sooner than later,” Hong said in the video.
Hong added, “My girls are going to grow up in a world where they’re going to learn really quick that attention has value, especially for girls. Appearance can get you attention: likes, comments, followers, money, opportunities. All of that is very real. What I want them to understand is that attention and value are not the same thing.”
The father of two said his goal is to tell his girls that their “appearance never has to be the main thing that gives them their self-worth.”
“I don’t think I’m going to teach my daughters that with one conversation when they’re 16,” he argued. “Look what I’m up against. I have to start right now.”
Kelly has been an open book about the highs and lows of parenting, both on social media and her “The Morning After” podcast, which is currently on hiatus. The Georgia native spoke about the importance of grounding her daughters in religion on a podcast episode in September 2025.
“Living in California, actually living anywhere in the world these days, the world is changing and at this state where I feel like at any moment it could just all blow up in our faces,” she said. “Just to give them the base and the values of Christianity every day, knowing they have something to turn back to if things get hard, I’m very excited about.”
Sweeney’s ad campaign for Novig has been met with plenty of backlash, including multiple female athletes who have pushed back at the company’s messaging.
“I wasn’t going to share this as I didn’t want to give this any more attention. But, I can’t keep my mouth shut,” former Australian Olympic swimmer Ariarne Titmus wrote via her Instagram Story on Saturday, September 12. “I can’t describe how infuriated I feel when I watch this.”
Titmus, 26, added, “Not only is it a kick in the face to every woman who has dedicated her life to perfecting her craft, but every woman who enjoys sports for what it really is – teamwork, friendship, dedication, excellence, unity…How do we live in a world where monetising a woman’s body and sexualising women’s sport is still a thing?”
Former Love Island USA star and paralympic athlete Beatriz Hatz also weighed in on the ad, writing via TikTok, “Actually so disgusted and disappointed in her ad. Idgaf if she getting hella money for that, she’s setting women back so much. Women in sports do not need to be sexualized. We deserve to compete at the peak of our ability and be seen as athletes.”
Former UCLA gymnast Gracie Kramer even joined the chat, sharing a video of her competing and wrote, “Idk what Sydney Sweeney was doing, but this is what a woman in sports looks like.”
Sweeney, for her part, seemingly addressed the backlash by sharing photos of athletes posing naked during their respective covers for ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue.
