Being the extremely private person that she is, Shailene Woodley kept a low-profile love life … until her engagement to Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was revealed in February 2021. Up until then, she only made one boyfriend red carpet official.
Shailene was linked to musician Nakho Bear from 2014 through 2016, though the pair seemed to be close friends. Even in old photos that the actress developed in 2020, she showed the smiling singer on a doorstep and supportively told fans go check out his amazing new single.
The Fault in Our Stars actress’ first romance that went red carpet official was with rugby player Ben Volavola. The couple were first spotted together in fall 2017, and Shailene made him Instagram official the following January, writing “Damn I love him,” next to a photo of Ben.
The pair made their red carpet debut at the May 2018 Los Angeles premiere of her film Adrift. Shailene would later go on to explain in 2020 that she envisioned marriage and a family with Ben down the road but had an emotional revelation while filming the movie Endings Beginnings in 2019 that caused her to change her mind.
“I was in a relationship with someone, and we were very much on the road to marriage and children,” she told Bustle in April 2020, the added, “I realized I was still at an age where I wasn’t able to fully commit. I couldn’t be available to him in the way that I wanted to be. I didn’t fully love myself.”
Shailene allegedly began dating Aaron sometime in the summer of 2020, but things were kept so low-key that reports the two were an item didn’t break until early February 2021, just as Aaron announced during his MVP Award acceptance speech at the NFL Honors that he had a “fiancée.”
“2020 was definitely a crazy year filled with lots of change, growth, some amazing, memorable moments,” he began at the February 1, 2021, event, later adding, “I got engaged and I played some of the best football of my career.” He thanked the “great group of people” including, “my fiancée,” who supported him when he wasn’t on the field, without naming Shailene specifically.
During a February 22, 2021, appearance on The Tonight Show, Shailene confessed to host Jimmy Fallon, “Yes, we are engaged. But for us, it’s not ‘new’ news. So, it’s kind of funny. Everybody right now is freaking out over it and we’re like, ‘Yeah, we’ve been engaged for a while.'”
The actress revealed she was not a fan of football and had never seen Aaron play, adding, “I never thought I’d be engaged with somebody who threw balls for a living. Like, I never thought as a little girl, I was like, ‘Yeah, when I grow up, I’m gonna marry someone who throws balls!”
The pair split in February 2022, calling off their engagement. “While Shailene is supportive of Aaron’s career, he put football first and they were barely spending any time together,” an insider told In Touch exclusively. “She felt he neglected their relationship. Neither of them was happy.”
Aaron is “an independent guy,” the source added, noting Aaron “got cold feet” about marrying Shailene. Ultimately, the pair “couldn’t make it work,” a second insider explained. “There were too many obstacles. They’re both adults and decided to part amicably.”
Scroll down for Shailene’s dating history.