Danica Patrick opens up on breakup with Aaron Rodgers: ‘He leaves a trail of blood’

Danica Patrick recently opened up about her breakup with quarterback Aaron Rodgers five years ago. When joining the Sage Steele Show, Patrick described Rodgers leaving “a trail of blood.”

In the end, Patrick didn’t regret that time in her life, but the relationship with Rodgers certainly shaped how she is now five years later. Simply put, it was a lesson learned.

Steele asked Patrick, in an open ended conversation, what was the most amount of pain she experienced in her life. It could’ve been everything, but Patrick referenced the former Packers and Jets quarterback.

“The breakup with Aaron in 2020,” Patrick told Steele. ““It was sudden. It felt like, it was my life. So like, you know, when you live with somebody and, you know, like, it’s your whole life. It’s your dentist appointment, it’s your hairdo, it’s your clothes, it’s your mailing address. It’s like, everything. And because the nature of the relationship was emotionally abusive, so that wore me down to nothing. 

“Something people could never imagine that I would lack in confidence or belief in the simple things about who I am. Yeah, everything was torn to bits. And yeah, he leaves a trail of blood … I don’t think I’m saying too much earth-shattering stuff. There’s been enough out there. But it gave me the greatest gift, which was myself. It gave me the greatest gift of how much I needed to show up for myself and take care of myself.”

Steele then asked if Patrick realized the emotional abuse she described or ignored it. The former professional driver chose the latter. 

“I ignored it, but in real life, it was just like … I would say all the time, ‘I’m built for hard things. I can handle hard things,’ and so I just saw it as a hard thing,” Patrick said. “And my nature is to try harder and do more. And I was like, what if I don’t do it for the right person? Like, what if I just get a stick up my ass about this and just get too proud and like, go, like, you know what? I’m just I’m done instead of going, yeah, just try a little harder. Because, you know what, if you look back and think man, I wish I would have tried like, I never want that in my life. I wish I would have tried, that will never be in the back of my mind. I’m not that. This is probably why I don’t have regret, and I don’t have shame.”

Rodgers became more of a media sensation since 2020, having frequented The Pat McAfee Show, taken polarizing political stances and had curious COVID opinions, among other things. Not only that, Rodgers exited the franchise that drafted him, took a darkness retreat, had a tumultuous tenure with the Jets and now is playing a game of “will he, won’t he” with the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

Patrick, 43, is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel car racing and has retired. But like Rodgers, she’s also taken political stances of her own, recently voting for current President Donald Trump for his second term. For both athletes, their on and off the field lives will certainly be followed for years to come.