Aaron Rodgers and Shailene Woodley’s Relationship Timeline
- NFL star Aaron Rodgers and actress Shailene Woodley revealed their engagement in February 2021.
- They met through mutual friends and Woodley said they connected during the coronavirus pandemic.
- In February 2022, multiple outlets reported that the couple ended their engagement.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and “Big Little Lies” star Shailene Woodley‘s relationship has reportedly ended.
Their romance seemingly came out of nowhere. The couple were first linked in early 2021 and revealed their engagement days after reports spread that they were dating. Since going public, the 38-year-old athlete and the 30-year-old actress have given fans some insight into their low-key relationship.
A year after sharing their engagement news with the world, the stars reportedly split.
Here’s a complete timeline of Rodgers and Woodley’s relationship.
February 3, 2021: E! News reported that Rodgers and Woodley were dating
Logan Riely/Getty Images; Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
“They have kept things private and low-key,” an anonymous source told the publication, adding that they’re “focused on their careers but they also make time for each other.”
The following day, People and Us Weekly also confirmed the relationship.
“They started off as friends, but things have turned romantic,” a source told the latter publication.
They added: “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.”
February 6: Amid dating speculation, Rodgers casually announced that he was engaged while accepting an award
Rodgers was named 2021 MVP at the NFL Honors Awards.
“2020 was definitely a crazy year, filled with lots of change, growth, some amazing memorable moments, 180 straight days of having my nose hairs scraped, playing for very little fans,” he said in his acceptance speech. “I got engaged and I played some of the best football of my career.”
After thanking his teammates and other members of the NFL, he also gave shout-outs to people off the field who are close to him — including longtime Green Bay Packers fan Jodie Foster and “my fiancée.”
Although Rodgers didn’t name his fiancée, many speculated that he was referring to Woodley given the timing of the recent dating reports.
February 22, 2021: Woodley confirmed their engagement during a virtual appearance on ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’
The “Divergent” actress told Fallon that their announcement isn’t “new news,” because they’ve been engaged “for a while.”
Woodley called Rodgers a “wonderful, incredible human being.”
“I never thought I’d be engaged to somebody who threw balls for a living,” she added.
Woodley also joked that her dog would “disown” her if she didn’t date Rodgers after meeting him, because he’s great at playing fetch due to his football skills.
And despite being in a relationship with a high-profile athlete, the “Fault in Our Stars” actress said that she’s never been to a football game.
“We met during this wacky, wacky time and all the stadiums were closed that he was playing in, so I have yet to go to a football game,” Woodley said, referring to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. “I didn’t really grow up with sports, especially American sports. It was never really on my radar.”
Mike Roemer/AP
“I don’t know him as a football guy,” Woodley said of her fiancé. “I know him as like, the nerd who wants to host ‘Jeopardy.’ That’s the dude I know. He just happens to also be very good at sports.”
Woodley also gave fans a glimpse of her ring during the interview, and Ajay Anad of Rare Carat told Insider that it could be 6 carats and valued at $500,000.
April 2, 2021: Rodgers said that the pandemic helped the couple keep their engagement under wraps
Stacy Revere/Getty Images; Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP
“COVID was a big help with that, because it just wasn’t the same amount of travel,” he told USA Today. “Wearing a mask all the time gives you just a little bit more anonymity. But we spent a lot of time together during the season, and then she was off doing a movie really shortly after we got engaged.”
Rodgers also told the publication that he and Woodley haven’t figured out a wedding date yet.
April 5, 2021: Ahead of Rodgers’ guest-hosting stint on ‘Jeopardy,’ Woodley encouraged her Instagram followers to watch the game show
The “Secret Life of the American Teenager” star posted a video on her Instagram Stories of herself inside a vehicle with Rodgers and said, “This guy right here is super sexy, super attractive, just shaved his neck this morning, has a little man bun growing, This guy is hosting Jeopardy tonight! You can watch it, and you should watch it.”
When asked what viewers could expect, Rodgers teased “laughs, maybe some tears, excitement, mystery.”
—Shailene Woodley Updates (@PlanetShailene) April 5, 2021
Later that day, they went live on Instagram as Rodgers answered 10 questions about his first night hosting “Jeopardy.”
Their livestream was crashed by Woodley’s 95-pound dog and at the end, she joked: “Who else gets in fights with their partners about how much they get to cuddle with their dog? Is it just us?”
April 9, 2021: Woodley again showed her support of Rodgers hosting ‘Jeopardy’
The actress posted a video on her Instagram story, showing herself and Rodgers on a couch watching the show.
As he appeared on screen, she said: “Woo! Who that sexy man? That guy right there.”
—Shailene Woodley Updates (@PlanetShailene) April 10, 2021
April 2021: The couple visited Disney World and participated in a joint interview
They visited the theme park located in Orlando, Florida in early April. In an interview with Disney blog Chip and Company, Rodgers and Woodley gushed about their stay at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.
They talked about being “Star Wars” fans, plus their favorite Disney movies and songs.
The couple also said that they planned on doing as many activities as they could at Disney World, like visiting the “Star Wars”-themed attractions, having snacks, and kissing at Magic Kingdom.
May 1, 2021: Rodgers and Woodley attended the Kentucky Derby together
They met up with Miles Teller, who starred alongside Woodley in the “Divergent” franchise and the film “The Spectacular Now,” and a few other friends.
Rodgers and Woodley were seen posing in photos shared on Instagram by Teller’s wife, Keleigh Sperry Teller.
Woodley wore a bright pink shirt and pants while Rodgers wore a purple shirt and black suit. Both stars wore oversized hats, a key accessory of the Kentucky Derby.
Late May 2021: The couple spent time in Hawaii with Teller and Sperry Teller
Amid speculation that Rodgers wants to leave the Packers, the athlete ditched the team’s voluntary offseason workouts for a vacation with his fiancée.
In photos and videos shared by Sperry Teller, the two couples were seen hiking, posing for selfies, singing along to Taylor Swift’s track “The 1”, and exploring waterfalls.
June 2021: Woodley told Shape magazine that she and Rodgers ‘were meant to be together’
“Starting a relationship where you immediately move in with someone — because it’s a pandemic and you can’t just get on a plane and go back and forth on weekends — taught us a lot about each other very quickly,” Woodley told the publication. “We jumped in headfirst and got some of the sticky bits out of the way early.”
The actress also said that she and the athlete were always going to find each other.
“I have the perspective that I would have met Aaron in any context, any space in time, because I feel we were meant to be together,” she said.
July 2021: Woodley said that she and Rodgers announced their engagement because ‘we didn’t want someone else to do it before we did’
“We didn’t do it for months and months after we had become engaged, but the reaction to it was really a lot, and so we were like, ‘Let’s just politely decline [to talk about the relationship] for a little while and live in our little bubble,'” the actress told The Hollywood Reporter in a feature released on July 16, 2021.
The feature also revealed that Woodley and Rodgers “met through mutual friends who are musicians.”
July 19, 2021: Woodley said that Rodgers’ dedication to his ‘Jeopardy’ hosting gig was ‘inspiring’
During a virtual appearance on “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” the star recalled getting home in the evening and seeing “a bunch of empty to-go containers and milkshake cups that he had ordered on
” while prepping.
“He had stacks of notebooks of notes that he took and highlighted and went back through,” she said. “It was actually really inspiring.”
Woodley also said that she didn’t feel any “pressure” to increase her knowledge of football terminology because of her fiancé, but she has found that it’s “a whole new world.”
“I still can’t get it right, but I’m learning, slowly but surely,” she said.
September 2021: Rodgers spoke about being in a long-distance relationship because of his and Woodley’s careers
Rodgers was spending months in Wisconsin with the Packers while Woodley was based in LA for acting jobs.
“It’s a busy work time for her, so [my decision] probably came at a good time for both of us to be able to focus on our work,” Rodgers told Haute Living. “I think it’s going to be a good thing. I mean, her work was shut down for an entire year, and she’s booked a number of projects. She enjoys working and her own routine, which I obviously enjoy, too.”
February 16, 2022: Multiple outlets reported that the stars called off their engagement
InTouch was the first to report the breakup, with a source saying that Woodley and Rodgers “couldn’t make it work. There were too many obstacles. They’re both adults and decided to part amicably.”
People, Us Weekly, and Entertainment Tonight also reported that the couple broke up, a year after revealing their engagement.
“They’re very different people with busy careers and there were obstacles that they couldn’t surmount,” a source told People. “They will remain friendly; there’s no bad blood and no drama. It just didn’t work out for them.”
