Donovan isn’t the only famous McNabb

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – By now, Wilma McNabb is used to all the people who stop and stare at her son. He’s been in the spotlight since he was a big-time high school athlete in the Chicago suburbs. And now he’s the biggest star on the Eagles team that arrived at the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Some things, though, still take some getting used to, even for a celebrity mom.

“Some people, you know how they’ll pass you on the street and they’ll look at you and stare just a minute and they’re like, ‘I know that face?’ ” Wilma McNabb said. “Then they’re like, ‘Oh, that’s the Chunky mom.’ “

The “Chunky mom” has been Wilma McNabb’s alter ego for the last three years, ever since she began co-starring in those famous Chunky soup commercials with her son, Donovan, the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback. She may not be the most famous McNabb at Super Bowl XXXIX this week, but those commercials have made her far more recognizable than some of McNabb’s teammates.

She’s not just a celebrity’s mom. She is a celebrity mom.

It all started innocently enough four years ago, when Donovan got the call to film a new commercial for Campbell’s. He got the script, learned his lines and went to the set to meet the director. Then he met the actress that was going to play his mother.

All of that was fine with Wilma, who went with him to the set. But she still had one question for the director:

“Why don’t you use the real moms,” she asked.

“They said, ‘No, we use actresses because usually moms are rookies and we only have 2 1/2 days to film this. We don’t have time to do the training.’ ” she recalled. “But I kept saying, ‘No, I can do this, I can do this.’ And the next year they decided, ‘Let’s just give them a try.’ “

And just like that, a star was born. Wilma, who goes by her middle name “Charlene,” was a natural. Soon her friends and family began calling her “Char the Star.” Even Donovan, who was a reluctant accomplice when his “real mom” first joined the cast, began enjoying her celebrity.

“The first year he was like, ‘Mom, please,’ ” Wilma said. “The next year when they said they were going to use me he thought, ‘OK, she thinks she can do this. Let’s see.’

“Really, I think now he does (the commercials) for me.”

The whole thing has been a pleasantly surprising life twist for the 49-year-old Wilma, who is a registered nurse by trade. She does like getting involved – she’s the director of the Donovan McNabb Foundation and the vice president of the Professional Football Mothers Association. But she never dreamed of being an actress or in the public eye.

“I’ve always been a care-giving, nurturing type. A homebody,” Wilma said. “No, being an actress was not what I wanted to do. I wasn’t a public speaker. I didn’t think I could do that or get before a crowd. It’s a little simpler with the commercial. And I guess you evolve. I evolved.”

Like mother, like son. After all, perhaps no one has evolved more on the Eagles than her 28-year-old, the younger of two sons. She and Donovan’s father, Sam, have been to almost every game of the quarterback’s six-year NFL career. And yes, she was right there with him on the day he was drafted, when the Eagles fans heralded his selection with boos.

“Yes I heard it and saw it,” Wilma said. “I didn’t hear it at the beginning, but he told me, ‘They’re booing me, mom.’ I said, ‘What? Don’t pay them any attention.’ “

Of course, it didn’t take long for her son to win over the finicky Philadelphia faithful. Still, for the whole McNabb family, Donovan’s career has been a wild ride.

“I don’t know, I think ours has been a little abnormal compared to the usual NFL player,” Wilma said. “So yes, it has been an emotional roller coaster.”

And now they’re here, together at the Super Bowl.