Aaron Rodgers slams famous ex-girlfriends: ‘Clinically bipolar,’ ‘crazytown’
Olivia Munn, Danica Patrick and Shailene Woodley probably wish that ex-boyfriend Aaron Rodgers had managed to win over his mysterious wife Brittani back when he says he first met and fell in love with her in 2017.
If things had worked out with Brittani nearly a decade ago, the controversial NFL quarterback could have spared these more public, famous women the much-publicized heartache and drama that went along with dating him. The long-time former Green Bay Packers star also would not now have the opportunity to go on “The Pat McAfee Show” and publicly slam them.
While Rodgers didn’t directly name any of these women during Wednesday’s appearance on his friend’s show, he didn’t have to, as he referred to the period during which he dated them, calling it “crazytown.” He also alleged that the women he was seeing during and after 2017 were “clinically bipolar” and “relevance-seeking” before going on to praise Brittani for wanting to lead a private life with him and for rejecting “expletive” WAG culture.
In what Us Weekly described as one of Rodgers’ most “personal and combustible” interviews in recent memory, the one-time Cal Golden Bears star opened up about first meeting Brittani. He didn’t reveal too much about this woman except to hint that she might be from the U.K. by saying she was from “across the pond.”
Rodgers, 42, told McAfee he first met Brittani in 2017 — the same year that the Chico-reared athlete ended his three-year relationship with Munn, the TV and film star who is now happily married to comedian John Mulaney.
“When we met back in 2017, I knew that there was something crazy special about this and I wanted to be with her,” Rodgers said about Brittani, whom he met while he was still playing for the Green Bay Packers. “She would make funny comments like, ‘I would never live in Green Bay’ and ‘I don’t want to be a player’s wife.’ She’s not a public person.”
When things didn’t work out with Brittani, Rodgers was presumably free to begin a very public relationship with former NASCAR driver Danica Patrick, during which they seemed destined to become a new royal sports couple because they shared backgrounds as rich, famous and successful athletes. They also had bought a $28 million mansion together in Malibu, with Patrick talking about marriage and Rodgers regularly praising her on Instagram as a calming influence on his life.
That relationship continued until July 2020 when Rodgers reportedly and abruptly called things off and began quietly dating actor Shailene Woodley during the COVID-19 pandemic. He and the “Big Little Lies” star announced their engagement in early 2021 after he won the third of his four NFL Most Valuable Player awards. But by the following year, Rodgers and Woodley had called off their engagement, several months after he sparked national controversy by going on McAfee’s show to rant critically about the COVID-19 vaccine.
During this “crazytown” period, Rodgers also was linked to Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Kelly Rohrbach and Mallory Edens, daughter of Milwaukee Bucks owner Wes Edens, Us Weekly reported.
About this period in life, Rodgers told McAfee: “I dealt with clinically bipolar. I dealt with depressed relevance-seeking.”
“I dealt with people that wanted to search out other possibilities before they could commit to me and then they go on TV talking about how I ruined their lives and all this (expletive),” Rodgers continued. “I just want to say, ‘Move on with your life. Stop lying about me. Just move on with your life and be happy.’”
Rodgers added: “I was with individuals who called the paparazzi, who talked about where I was living, who coerced me into making the proverbial Instagram and social media posts. I never really wanted to live a public life.”
That’s what Rodgers appreciates about Brittani, he insisted. She, too, wants to lead a private life, unlike, he said, the other public-facing wives and girlfriends of his NFL colleagues.
“She didn’t sign up for this (expletive),” Rodgers told McAfee, who admitted to the Daily Mail that he has yet to meet his friend’s wife.
“She signed up for this because she loves me and supports me and wants to spend the rest of our lives together and start a family together,” Rodgers continued. “She didn’t sign up to be an out-front social media WAG. She doesn’t want any of that (expletive). And I don’t either.”
Rodgers revealed that all of the attention surrounding his marriage had forced the couple to move out of his Malibu beach home. “The obsession is (expletive) bizarre,” he said.
With that, Rodgers insisted to McAfee that once he is done with football for good, he would retreat from public life. And, yes, his future in the NFL is still up in the air, he admitted. If he decides to play next season, he will return to the Pittsburgh Steelers, though he previously said that the 2025 season would be his last.
As for Rodgers’ comments about his two most recent ex-girlfriends, none had an immediate response, according to Page Six.
Woodley somewhat opened up about the relationship in 2024 with Outside magazine. Also without naming names, she suggested that her recent, high-profile relationship — with Rodgers — “was not right.” She referred to it as a “toxic situation” that she chose to remain in because she was trying to be empathetic with “someone else.” The end of the relationship was “a really awful, traumatic” event, Woodley explained. She said: “I felt like I lost my soul, my self, my happiness, my joy. I really understood depression and anxiety and, like, complete soul detachment.”
Patrick has been more direct about Rodgers’ conduct during their time together, saying in a May 2025 interview that their relationship was so “emotionally abusive” that it wore her “down to nothing,” according to Page Six.
“People could never imagine that I would lack … any confidence or belief in the simple things about who I am,” the former car driver said on “The Sage Steele Show.”
“Everything was torn to bits,” she said. “Yeah, he leaves a trail of blood.”
