Additional Coverage:
Aaron Rodgers recently spoke candidly about his challenging two-year relationship with former partner Danica Patrick. On an episode of Pittsburgh Steelers teammate Cameron Heyward’s podcast, Not Just Football, the NFL quarterback described the retired race car driver as “not fun to be around” during their time together.
Rodgers revealed that Patrick was struggling with depression after retiring from racing. “She had just retired.
She was depressed,” he said. “But I didn’t leave her because I was trying to be there and be a good partner.
Then it was going a certain direction. Obviously, there was no intimacy.
It was nothing.”
The relationship reportedly began to unravel when Rodgers declined Patrick’s suggestion to purchase a Malibu home together shortly after her retirement. They attempted couples therapy to mend their issues, but the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic intensified the strain.
“Then COVID hit and we’re stuck together,” Rodgers recounted. He also addressed Patrick’s public claims made on The Sage Steele Show in 2025, where she described Rodgers as “emotionally abusive” and said the relationship “wore me down to nothing.”
Rodgers disputed her version of events, saying, “She tells a story that, ‘I was so blindsided by getting left by you, and he leaves a trail of blood around.’ I’m like, what are you talking about?
That is not what happened by any means.”
Rodgers expressed frustration over the conflicting narratives, emphasizing that the relationship lacked intimacy and that he didn’t want to buy the Malibu house together. “I feel like this needs to be told because there’s just narratives out there,” he said.
“People always say he’s such a a**hole, even his family hates him. Nobody knew anything that was going on with it.”
This insight into the couple’s troubled relationship sheds light on the complexities behind the headlines, offering Rodgers’ perspective on a chapter of his personal life that has drawn considerable public attention.