Aaron Rodgers Rejects Claims He Ruined Shailene Woodley's Life and Reveals Shocking Pre-Wedding Remark

Aaron Rodgers has pushed back against claims that he was responsible for Shailene Woodley's emotional struggles surrounding their split, while making a startling allegation about what happened shortly after she accepted his marriage proposal.

The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback addressed his former engagement on the Not Just Football with Cam Heyward podcast, disputing the public narrative surrounding the end of his relationship with Woodley.

Rodgers said he proposed in December 2020 and that Woodley accepted, but claimed she later told him, 'Before we get married, I got to f*ck this guy.'

He also pushed back against narratives that he left Woodley and was responsible for the emotional difficulties she later described publicly.

'Her story is that I ruined her life and gave her a crazy depression because I left her. But the actuality is she told me that, then she took off the ring by March. So I proposed in December, took out the ring by March,' he said.

Rodgers said the pair subsequently made several attempts to reconcile, but claimed those efforts failed.

'There wasn't even a relationship in '22 to break off,' he said, adding that Woodley had told him, 'I don't want to be with you.'

Rodgers also argued that public accounts of their relationship had been shaped by the attention his name generates.

His comments have reignited interest in the former couple's relationship more than four years after their split. Woodley has not publicly responded to his latest remarks.

Shailene Woodley Previously Described Painful Period

Woodley has previously spoken about the emotional impact of the period surrounding the end of their relationship, although she has not publicly confirmed Rodgers' account.

In a 2024 interview with Outside, she said she experienced a 'really awful, traumatic thing' in early 2022 and described feeling as though she had lost her 'soul,' happiness and sense of self. She also spoke about experiencing depression and anxiety.

Discussing her relationship with Rodgers, Woodley said she had not shared much about it because doing so made her emotional.

'It was not right. But it was beautiful,' she said.

Woodley did not publicly identify Rodgers as the cause of the traumatic event she referenced, so her comments do not independently establish Rodgers' responsibility for it.

Rodgers and Woodley were first linked in 2020 and publicly confirmed their engagement in early 2021.

Reports of their split emerged in February 2022, while Rodgers now says they made unsuccessful attempts to reconcile before the relationship ultimately ended.

Aaron Rodgers Opens up About His Current Wife

Rodgers also discussed his relationship with his current wife, Brittani, during the podcast, saying they first met in 2017, before his relationships with Danica Patrick and Woodley.

He said circumstances prevented their relationship from developing at the time, as Brittani was preparing to return to Europe. Rodgers later regretted not asking her to stay or pursuing the relationship further.

Rodgers said he subsequently became emotionally unavailable while focusing heavily on football. Their paths eventually crossed again after both had become engaged to other people.

'Then, she was engaged. Then, I got engaged. Luckily for me, we came back together,' Rodgers said.