Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers used a podcast appearance with teammate Cam Heyward this week to respond publicly to allegations made by his former girlfriend, retired race car driver Danica Patrick, about the end of their relationship in 2020.
In the interview, released Thursday morning as the second part of Rodgers’ conversation with Heyward, the quarterback described Patrick as “depressed and not fun to be around” following her retirement from racing, while also saying he stayed in the relationship in an effort to be supportive.
“I dated Danica. She had just retired. She was depressed and not fun to be around. 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; there was nothing,” Rodgers said.
Rodgers disputed Patrick’s characterization of the breakup, saying, “She tells a story that she was so blindsided and getting left by you, and that he leaves a trail of blood around him. And I’m like, what are you talking about? That’s not what happened.”
The comments come as Rodgers enters what he has called his final NFL season, now playing for the Steelers.
Patrick raised the issue first
Patrick, who dated Rodgers before their split in 2020, first spoke publicly about the relationship last year during an appearance on Sage Steele’s podcast. She described Rodgers as “emotionally abusive” and said he left a “trail of blood” as the relationship ended.
“The breakup with Aaron in 2020, because it was sudden,” Patrick told Steele when asked about her most painful experience. “It felt like it was my life. So when you live with somebody, it’s your whole life… And because the nature of the relationship was emotionally abusive, so that wore me down to nothing. Everything was torn to bits … I don’t think I’m saying too much earth-shattering stuff after we — there’s been enough out there.”
In his interview with Heyward, Rodgers gave his own account of how the relationship deteriorated, saying it began falling apart shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020.
“I’m buying a house in Malibu and she goes, ‘Do you want to buy it together?’ And I said no. And she said, ‘You know what that means then?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, that’s the way things are going.’ She said, ‘Well, let’s get counseling.’ Then we got counseling. Then COVID hits and we’re stuck together,” Rodgers said.
Rodgers closed his remarks with a broader complaint about public attention tied to his past relationships.
“No one cares what they have to say until they say my name,” Rodgers said. “I dated two women who nobody gives a f— about unless they drop my name — and they like to say their version of the history of what actually happened.”
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