Aaron Rodgers unloaded on exes Shailene Woodley and Danica Patrick, branding their negative portrayals of him as “horse s–t.”
The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback, 42, launched the blistering takedown during Thursday’s episode of the “Not Just Football” podcast, accusing both women of fabricating “monster” narratives to stay relevant. Rodgers claimed neither star commands public attention without invoking his name, a charge he leveled with profane precision.
“I dated two women who nobody gives a f–k about unless they drop my name,” he said on the podcast. “They like to say their version of the history of what actually happened. I’m just like, this ‘monster’ of a partner, and it’s just f–king horse s–t.”
Rodgers traced the pattern back to Patrick, 44, whom he began dating around early 2018 shortly after the former professional race car driver ended her full-time racing career. He described her as “depressed and not fun to be around” during that period, but insisted he stayed committed despite the strain.
“She had just retired,” he noted. “But I didn’t leave her because I was trying to be there and be a good partner.”
The relationship deteriorated without intimacy, Rodgers said, reaching a breaking point over real estate. He recalled declining Patrick’s offer to jointly purchase his Malibu home, after which she extracted confirmation that they were finished. Brief counseling and pandemic lockdown failed to salvage the romance, which ended in 2020.
Patrick’s version paints a starkly different picture. During a 2025 appearance on “The Sage Steele Show,” she accused Rodgers of being “emotionally abusive” and claimed she was “totally blindsided” by the split. She employed the same “trail of blood” metaphor that Rodgers mocked on the podcast.
“People could never imagine that I would lack … any confidence or belief in the simple things about who I am,” Patrick said in that interview. “Yeah, he leaves a trail of blood.”
Rodgers fired back directly at that characterization. “I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?'” he said on the podcast. “That is not what happened by any means.”
The quarterback then pivoted to Woodley, 34, whom he met in July 2020 and proposed to that December. Rodgers dropped a bombshell allegation about their engagement, claiming the “Divergent” star requested sexual freedom mere days after accepting his proposal.
“I propose, and she says, ‘Yes,'” he recounted. “Now, 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, ‘You know, before we get married I gotta go f–k this guy.'”
Rodgers asserted that Woodley terminated their engagement in March 2021, contradicting her public narrative that he abandoned her. He described failed reconciliation attempts that ended with her explicit rejection.
“We had a couple of times that we tried to get reunited, and nothing ever happened,” he explained. “She literally told me, ‘I don’t want to be with you.'”
Woodley has publicly framed the breakup as devastating. In a 2024 Outside magazine interview, she called it the “darkest” period of her life and described complete emotional shutdown. “I felt like I lost my soul, my self, my happiness, my joy,” she told the outlet. “I really understood depression and anxiety and, like, complete soul detachment. I knew I was depressed when I looked at a tree and felt nothing.”
Rodgers dismissed such accounts as calculated fabrications. He argued both women exploit his notoriety for media traction they cannot generate independently.
“All due respect … no one knows what they’re doing,” he claimed. “The height of their fame is when they were with me. They get clicks when they say my name … they get clicks when they say my name because I am a lightning rod. People actually give a f–k.”
He delivered a blunt directive to both exes. “Stop talking about me,” he continued. “You’re not relevant … Move on with your life. Also, two, you’re lying about what actually happened … Like, I was actually a good partner.”
Rodgers has since married a woman identified only as Brittani, tying the knot last year after an earlier brief relationship in 2017. The mystery surrounding her identity has fueled skepticism about her existence, which Rodgers shrugged off during the podcast. Woodley remains publicly single, while Patrick is reportedly dating an unidentified man.
The quarterback previously dated actress Olivia Munn from 2014 to 2017, a relationship that also attracted substantial media coverage.
Rodgers’ podcast outburst follows months of escalating public commentary from both women about their time with him, with Patrick’s emotional abuse allegations and Woodley’s depression disclosures generating significant headlines.
The NFL veteran framed the ongoing attention as one-sided exploitation, insisting his silence until now reflected restraint rather than confirmation of their claims.
Rodgers’ representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and representatives for both Woodley and Patrick were unavailable when contacted.
The Steelers face the Baltimore Ravens in their next scheduled matchup.