From smitten to single. Shailene Woodley and Aaron Rodgers kept their relationship relatively private before their split, but their rare quotes about each other offer possible insights into why they called off their whirlwind engagement.
Us Weekly confirmed in February 2021 that the actress and the NFL star were dating after first being linked in July 2020. “They started off as friends, but things have turned romantic,” a source revealed at the time. “The two are staying in contact while they are living away from each other. The relationship is long-distance for right now, but they are making it work.”
Rodgers shocked some when he announced in February 2021 that he was engaged, though he did not share the name of his fiancée at the time. Woodley cleared up any confusion later that month by confirming that she was the mystery woman to whom the Green Bay Packers quarterback was referring.
“We met during this whacky, whacky time and all the stadiums were closed that he was playing in, so I have yet to go to a football game,” the Big Little Lies alum explained during a February 2021 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. “I didn’t really grow up with sports, especially American sports. It was never really on my radar. When we met, also, I knew he was a football guy, but I didn’t know, like, what kind of a football guy he was. And I’m still constantly learning.”
Woodley and Rodgers seemed like an unlikely couple to some, but their chemistry was apparent. “While some might be perplexed of how compatible they are, it’s obvious among those close to them that they’re meant to be,” an insider told Us in April 2021. “They’re a great match because they’re both hardworking, career-focused, have a similar lifestyle and are down to earth.”
The source added that the athlete “wouldn’t have proposed if he wasn’t 100 percent serious about Shailene being The One.”
However, Us confirmed in February 2022 that Woodley and Rodgers called it quits, with an insider revealing that the pair had not “been spending any time together” in recent weeks.
“Shailene has been super busy with work,” one source said, adding that the California native was always “focused” on football. “Everything was so different during lockdown, and they had been living in their bubble.”
Scroll through the gallery below to revisit the now-exes’ quotes about their short-lived romance.