NFL reporter Dianna Russini spoke candidly about the scandal involving New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, ultimately leading to her losing her job at The Athletic.
“The best way to describe what the last six months were like for me is heartbreaking,” Russini, 43, told People in a story published on Monday, November 9. “At the beginning of this, it was a nightmare.”
Russini stepped down from her job as The Athletic’s senior NFL insider in April, after photos emerged of her and Vrabel, 51, linking hands and sharing a hot tub at a luxury resort in Arizona.
Subsequent photos and videos showed the pair — who are both married to other people — looking cozy together for years, including pictures of the two seemingly kissing at a New York City bar in March 2020. (Russini has yet to confirm she and Vrabel had an affair.)
“The lies became so out of control,” Russini argued. “This was a runaway train, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Once we realized nothing was going to stop this, it became unhealthy for us to read it because it wasn’t helping us heal. It was piling on and adding to what we were already dealing with.”
Russini has been married to her husband, Shake Shack executive Kevin Goldschmidt, since September 2020, and the couple shares two sons: Michael, 5, and Joey, 4.
“One of the hard parts about this was that a lot of the work I was doing and the things that I’ve accomplished got lost,” Russini said. “It quickly went from just one moment that people felt was true, and erased years of work.”
While Russini admitted she “would not wish that experience on any person ever,” the veteran journalist explained she “did get an opportunity to not just learn about myself, but my family and our priorities, and maybe some decisions and things I was doing in my career, and putting it before what I really wanted most, which was to be a mom.”
“It was so hard at first, feeling their love and support helped me believe that, ‘Wait, I know I can go back to doing this. I know that they’re settled. I know that we’re a unit, and no one is going to come between us. Nothing’s going to break us,’” she continued.
Russini said the Vrabel scandal “wasn’t just something that shook me,” explaining the reverberations impacted her entire extended family.
“It affected my 94-year-old grandmother, my cousins, family members I haven’t even spoken to in years,” she said. “It just had a really lasting effect, and I don’t necessarily know if I ever really thought about that as much as I should.”
In attempting to put the Vrabel drama behind her, Russini has announced the next chapter in her sports media story. She will host The Russini Report, a one-hour show streaming on BetUS TV’s website and X account beginning Wednesday, November 11.
Russini will also be a featured contributor on the “Nobody’s Safe” podcast with popular sports radio host Jon Weiner (a.k.a. Stugotz).
