Rob McElhenney’s Son Saved Signed Tom Brady Trading Card amid L.A. Wildfire Evacuation: ‘Of All the Things’ (Exclusive)
Rob McElhenney was surprised to see what one of his sons packed as his family evacuated their home amid the Los Angeles wildfires. The Philadelphia Eagles fan tells PEOPLE that the son he shares with Kaitlin Olson packed ‘a signed Tom Brady football card.’
Rob McElhenney was surprised to see what one of his sons packed as his family evacuated their home amid the recent wildfires in Los Angeles.
The avid Philadelphia Eagles fan and Wrexham FC co-owner, 47, reveals during a PEOPLE in 10 interview that a son — whom he shares with his It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia costar Kaitlin Olson — “almost actually broke” his heart during the family’s evacuation from the fires.
“We got evacuated from our house. I said to the kids, you know, guys, it’s not that we're in imminent danger, but you’ve just got to grab anything that’s important to you that has sentimental value,” he recalls. “Don’t worry about anything else, and we’re just going to leave.”
“We got the pets and we got the passports and we’re good,” McElhenney continues. “My son’s got this little bag and in the bag he’s got two things. One of them was signed football by all the Eagles ... and that felt good. My heart grew 10 sizes too big. Then the second thing, the only other thing he had in there was a signed Tom Brady football card.”
Rob McElhenney; Tom Brady.
Lisa O'Connor/Variety via Getty; Steve Granitz/FilmMagic
Upon seeing what his son packed, he says his “heart almost exploded.”
“It almost actually broke my heart that this kid, out of all the things, would take Brady’s card. Really?” McElhenney quips of the Patriots alum, 47. “But I texted that to Tom and he loved it, and of course, he was kind enough to text a video back to him, and I just thought that was really beautiful.”
McElhenney did not specify which son packed the trading card, but he noted that, despite being an Eagles fan, Brady is “not a sworn enemy.”
McElhenney shares two sons with Olson: Axel Lee, 14, and Leo Grey, 12.
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McElhenney and Olson, 49, started dating in 2006 after meeting on the set of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, got engaged in 2007 and wed that same year, before welcoming their kids in 2010 and 2012.
Olson, also an NFL fan, once outbid her husband during a 2023 auction for a signed Eagles varsity jacket — modeled by Kylie Kelce and identical to the outerwear once worn by Princess Diana.
“I couldn't believe that someone was immediately jumping on every time I bid,” McElhenney said at the time on an episode of New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce. “Then I got a text from somebody I know who said, ‘I've been the one bidding against you, bozo.’ And it did not even cross my mind that this was a possibility, and it turned out I live with this person.”