An overwhelming response! Shailene Woodley and Aaron Rodgers initially chose not to talk about their engagement because of the possible response — and they don’t regret holding back.
“When we announced that we were engaged, we wanted to do that only because we didn’t want someone else to do it before we did,” Woodley, 29, explained to The Hollywood Reporter on Friday, July 16. “And 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 Big Little Lies alum and Rodgers, 37, first sparked romance rumors in July 2020. Us Weekly confirmed that the pair were dating in February.
“They started off as friends, but things have turned romantic,” a source told Us at the time.
Days later, the Green Bay Packers quarterback revealed that they had taken the next step in their relationship.
“I got engaged and played some of the best football of my career,” Rodgers said while accepting the AP Most Valuable Player Award for the 2020 NFL football season and later giving a shout-out to “my fiancée.”
At the time, the actress confirmed that she and the athlete have been quietly enjoying the new milestone for some time.
“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,’” Woodley clarified during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in February. “He’s, first off, just a wonderful, incredible human being. But I never thought I’d be engaged with somebody who threw balls for a living.”
The Divergent star discussed how the twosome met during the coronavirus pandemic and she’s never actually seen Rodgers at work.
“We met during this whacky, whacky time and all the stadiums were closed that he was playing in. I didn’t really grow up with sports, especially American sports. It was never really on my radar,” she noted. “When we met, also, I knew he was a football guy, but I didn’t know like what kind of a football guy he was. And I’m still constantly learning.”
Woodley has since opened up about the benefits of their romance progressing so quickly.
“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,” the California native told Shape Magazine in June. “We jumped in headfirst and got some of the sticky bits out of the way early.”
