While the Rams Super Bowl parade was a celebratory occasion, an unfortunate incident shadowed the day.
NFL photographer Kelly Smiley fell off the stage at the event, fracturing her spine, right in front of Matthew and Kelly Stafford. Matthew walked away immediately instead of helping Smiley, something Kelly Stafford said he regrets doing.
“We didn’t know any of that until way past it. I know Matthew wishes he could take that reaction back, but if he tried to help…if anyone saw or heard hum that day, he probably wasn’t in the right state of mind to do anything, and could’ve made it worse,” she told Craig Carton and Evan Roberts on WFAN 660 in New York. “It wasn’t the best reaction, but when we got in the car after, he asked me to text the Rams people and make sure she was okay, and the next day was when we tried to figure out a solution.”
The Stafford’s, and the Rams, did make it up to Smiley by offering to pay for all her medical bills.
Last month, Matthew also admitted he didn’t handle the incident properly and wished had a do-over on Kelly’s podcast “The Morning After.”
“Yeah, I mean, that obviously happened really quickly and suddenly and unexpectedly, and I wish I had a better reaction in the moment,” he said, via USA Today’s Analis Bailey. “I didn't. I apologized to her for that, but glad that all in all she's doing all right.”
Smiley got into hot water herself, as controversial old tweets of hers resurfaced following the Super Bowl parade. Kelly Stafford mentioned the entire situation rubbed her the wrong way.
“Part of me feels her whole life was thrown in the washer in a way, and I hate it for everybody involved,” she said, “but I’ll be totally honest: after I heard about the things said by her 10 years ago, part of me wanted to reach out and say I was sorry this is happening, and I hope you’re not the same person now that you were then–and if you are, hopefully this changes you. Everyone makes mistakes, and I wanted to show compassion.”
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