The biggest event in football last week wasn’t the Rams winning Super Bowl LVI. It was the news that Shailene Woodley and NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers had reportedly broken up and called off their engagement. A source told In Touch on Wednesday that Rodgers “put football first and they were barely spending any time together,†and that he’s “an independent guy†who was getting cold feet about marriage. Two days later, the Daily Mail published a pap shot of Woodley with a pointedly bare ring finger. As outside observers, we can never know the true reason why a celebrity couple breaks up; maybe these two just had one too many ideological differences and finally agreed to no longer agree to disagree. All we can do is respect their decision as two autonomous adults …
… Unless one of those celebrities is real-life Hoodwinked-level unreliable narrator Aaron Rodgers. Over the past 24 hours, Rodgers has been posting and talking about his relationship in a tense that can only be described as present. On Monday, he posted a Rumi “quote†that reads, “Gratitude is the wine for the soul. Go on. Get drunk.†It’s an image macro that leads us to believe that Rodgers is an active Pinterest user. The next photo in the post is a picture of him and Woodley cuddling. “Thanks for letting me chase after you the first couple months after we met, and finally letting me catch up to you and be a part of your life,†he writes in a long and rambling caption about hashtag-gratitude, tagging Woodley. “Thanks for always having my back, for the incredible kindness you show me and everyone you meet, and for showing me what unconditional love looks like, I love you and am grateful for you.â€
Then, on Tuesday February 22, Rodgers appeared on The Pat McAfee Show and said, “When your home life is stable and you have an amazing partner to do life with, it just makes the work life a bonus.†He attributed his success with the Green Bay Packers to “stability†in his home life with Woodley. Rodgers also said that Woodley makes his life “more enjoyable and tasteful and exciting.†All of this sure sounds like Rodgers thinks he is currently dating and/or engaged to Woodley. But then again, you can’t really believe anything Rodgers says on The Pat McAfee Show; it’s where he said ivermectin would give him the “best immunity possible.â€