Were you here in 2022? If you were, you may remember our coverage of the infamous on-again, off-again relationship between anti-vaxxer lovebirds Aaron Rodgers and Shailene Woodley. If you weren’t here then, welcome. We’re so happy to have you, and we have a crucial update for you regarding this story.
Back then—before Trump 2.0, before Scandoval, before Taylor met Travis, before the invention of Barrel Jeans, prebiotic soda, and butter-stuffed dates—there once was a couple who shared both a deep love for each other and a homeopathic alternative to the COVID vaccine. The former Green Bay Packers QB and the Big Little Lies actress dated for about a year and a half and were even engaged before they broke up in February of 2022. Then they got back together. Then they broke up again. It was messy. Four years later, it’s still getting even messier.
This time, their chaotic affair of yore was dredged up again by way of the modern vessel for shit-stirring: the podcast. In an appearance on Thursday’s episode of the Not Just Football podcast, Rodgers decided it was finally time to tell his side of the story, during which he claimed that Woodley asked to sleep with another man before they were to get married.
Within minutes of the recording, he was already off on a tirade against the NFL’s post-pandemic vaccination policies and the “criminal” Dr. Anthony Fauci. He also got into messy territory about his past relationship with NASCAR’s Danica Patrick, saying that she was unpleasant to be around and admitting that he was emotionally unavailable because he was in love with the mystery woman who would one day become his mystery wife. But I’ll spare you the time. Here’s what he said about Woodley:
“I date Shailene, I propose, and she says yes. She maybe felt like she was forced to make a decision. She could have said no. But not a couple of days after that, she tells me ‘before we get married, I got to go fuck this guy.’Her story is that I ruined her life and gave her crazy depression because I left her, but the actuality is she told me that and took off the ring by March. I proposed in December, took off the ring by March, and we had a couple of times when we tried to get reunited and nothing ever happened, and there wasn’t even a relationship in ’22 to break off. She literally told me, ‘I don’t want to be with you.’
There’s just a lot of narratives out there that are just not true.”
Then he says—with “all due respect”—that the height of “their” fame was when “they” were with him. (He repeats the word “they” multiple times here without clarifying who “they” are—his exes, Woodley and Patrick? His former family members who previously excommunicated him? It’s unclear.) “They get clicks when they say my name,” he added.
According to Rodgers, he is a “lightning rod” for the news and media because of the “silent majority” who actually like him and agree with him. Sure. It probably has nothing to do with the fact that his public relationships are messy as hell and people love drama…
“Shai, you left me,” he continued. “You took the ring off. What are we talking about? I ‘ruined your life?’ Just stop with the narrative. It’s time to move on. Move on with your life.” Indeed, it’s time to move on. So, who’s going to tell him?
