Aaron Rodgers Rails Against 'Monster Partner' Claims on Podcast

Aaron Rodgers used Cam Heyward's 'Not Just Football' podcast to reject claims from exes Danica Patrick and Shailene Woodley that he was a bad partner.

Aaron Rodgers used the second part of his sit-down with Steelers teammate Cam Heyward on the "Not Just Football" podcast, released Thursday, to push back hard on how his exes describe their relationships with him. He called claims that he is a "monster" of a partner "horse s–t," saying the women he dated "like to say their version of the history of what actually happened." Page Six reports he addressed remarks by Shailene Woodley and Danica Patrick directly, adding that nobody cares what they say "unless they drop my name."

The remarks are striking because Rodgers, entering what he calls his final NFL season, broke a long public silence on relationships he has usually avoided discussing. Rather than ignore the criticism, he went scorched earth, disputing specific accounts point by point and even claiming his exes' public profiles peaked while they were with him. Fox News notes Patrick fired the first shot last year on Sage Steele's podcast, calling the relationship "emotionally abusive" and accusing him of leaving "a trail of blood," framing this as a direct response to her.

On Patrick, Rodgers said she had just retired from racing, was "depressed and not fun to be around," and that he stayed to be a good partner; he described a Malibu house moment that signaled the relationship was ending, brief counseling, and a pandemic stretch stuck together, and denied her account of being blindsided.

Woodley previously called the split the "darkest" time of her life and told Outside magazine in 2024, as Page Six reports, "I felt like I lost my soul, my self, my happiness, my joy." The two sides also disagree on dates: Yahoo reports the engagement ended in 2022 by some accounts, while Rodgers insists it was over in 2021.

Reputations are the immediate currency here. Rodgers flatly asserted, "I was actually a good partner," while accusing his exes of spreading narratives that are "just not true" and profiting from his name recognition. Page Six notes representatives for Woodley and Patrick were not immediately available for comment, so neither has responded to this round of claims. The feud also follows Rodgers off the field at an awkward moment, as he starts what he has called his final season with Pittsburgh.

Woodley is not publicly in a relationship and Patrick is dating a mystery man, while Rodgers married a woman identified as Brittani in 2025, per Yahoo. Rodgers said on the podcast that he met his wife in 2017 and that not proposing then remains his biggest regret, and that he does not "f–king care" about skepticism over her identity. With neither camp backing down, the dueling narratives — and likely podcast follow-ups — seem set to continue for some time.