Aaron Rodgers and Shailene Woodley have looked happy and excited when separately sharing the news of their engagement, but they’ve also been vague about discussing the timing and logistics of their romance, which apparently blossomed during the COVID-19 pandemic when the Green Bay Packers quarterback would have been under strict NFL safety protocols.
The start of the relationship also may overlap the sudden end of Rodgers’ high-profile relationship with race car driver Danica Patrick in July 2020.
Rodgers, 37, first sprung news of his love for the “Big Little Lies” star when he proclaimed “I’m engaged” while accepting the NFL Most Valuable Player award via Zoom on Jan 30. Woodley, 29, confirmed the engagement during an appearance on “The Tonight Show” Monday night, while promoting her new film, “The Mauritanian.”
Woodley stirred a new round of speculation about the origins and development of the relationship when she told host Jimmy Fallon that they had been “engaged for a while now.” Many on social media wondered, what does “a while now” mean when he only split from Patrick six months earlier?
Woodley moreover sidestepped Fallon’s question about whether she had spent time in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and she proclaimed ignorance about Rodgers’ football fame.
The Simi Valley-raised actor said she’d never seen “one football game” before she met Rodgers, and explained she didn’t grow up with sports, especially “American sports.”
“I knew he was a football guy. I didn’t know what kind of a football guy,” Woodley said, perhaps in fun. She added, “He’s good. He’s great, but I don’t understand.”
📸 | Shailene Woodley wearing her engagement ring during an interview with Jimmy Fallon, where she also confirmed her engagement to Aaron Rodgers. pic.twitter.com/KQtthcPtXa
— Shailene Woodley Updates (@PlanetShailene) February 23, 2021
Among the many left confused was sports analyst and “The Ringer” podcast CEO Bill Simmons, who said Woodley’s comments “raise more questions than answers.”
On “The Dish,” “The Ringer’s” pop culture podcast, Simmons and co-hosts Amanda Dobbins and Juliet Litman questioned how the relationship blossomed during the pandemic, especially with NFL COVID-19 safety protocols regarding testing, travel and outside activities.
For example, the protocols say players can’t have visitors while traveling and can be fined for going out to restaurants or attending gatherings without masks or that violate local or state public health orders. A positive COVID-19 test brings automatic quarantine.
Simmons also cited reports that Woodley was shooting a film in Montreal, Canada during the fall. He wondered how the relationship could get so serious so quickly if they met virtually or if they did much of their dating by FaceTime. “She’s been filming in Montreal? He’s in Green Bay? I’m just stupefied by it,” Simmons said.
Simmons also thought Woodley was oddly nonchalant about Rodgers’ football fame, opining: “He’s like the fourth best quarterback ever. To just kind of dismiss the football part with Aaron Rodgers was illogical to me.”
Litman countered that Woodley probably spent the fall “holed up” in Green Bay, where Rodgers is based during the NFL season. She said another of Woodley’s comments to Fallon — about starting a work trip to South America in December with a flight from Green Bay — made it sound as though she had at least spent part of the fall in Wisconsin.
Dobbins suggested the couple are keeping a lid on any back-and-forth between Green Bay and Montreal for reasons related to public relations and his NFL commitments. Such travel, she said, “brings up logistical challenges in the COVID era, especially if Aaron Rodgers has to be eligible to play. They wanted to keep all the movement quiet.”
The couple’s “obfuscation” of details also could be a way to avoid any backlash from Patrick fans, especially with reports suggesting a possible love “triangle,” Litman and Simmons said.
Rumors that Rodgers, a former star player for the Cal Golden Bears, and Woodley were dating began simmering in certain corners of the internet around the time he split from Patrick in July. Sports gossip site TerezOwens.com reported in July that Rodgers may have left Patrick for Woodley after Patrick introduced him to the actor.
Perhaps Rodgers and Woodley thought they could limit the backlash by waiting until now to announce their romance, some six months after his reported split from Patrick, Simmons said. But his co-hosts also noted more cynically that the couple happened to time their respective announcements for when they have something to promote: His MVP win and her new movie.
Meanwhile, another possible origin story for the couple emerged this week, courtesy of Page Six. The gossip site revealed that Rodgers and Woodley are fans of the same celebrity astrologer, Debra Silverman.
Perhaps Silverman introduced them, Page Six said. Patrick introduced Rodgers to Silverman, as Rodgers himself revealed in a March 2020 interview.
“I got to meet her, I got to get a reading, and it just spiked my interest,” Rodgers said, according to Page Six. “It’s just fascinating how accurate it can be … and it’s fascinating to me and I’m excited every time I learn more about it.”
Meanwhile, Woodley also enjoyed a session with Silverman in 2017, Silverman revealed on her website, while sharing a selfie with the actor.
