Shailene Woodley alludes to Aaron Rodgers split as ‘darkest, hardest time’

Shailene Woodley recently reflected on her tumultuous breakup with Aaron Rodgers last year.

“It was hard to film because I was going through the darkest, hardest time in my life,” Woodley, who was filming her show Three Women at the time of their split, told Net-A-Porter in an interview published Monday, January 23, 2023.

“It was winter in New York, and my personal life was s–tty, so it felt like a big pain bubble for eight months.”

The show based on Lisa Taddeo‘s book of the same name wrapped filming in May 2022 after kicking off production the previous fall and the couple broke up around February 2022.

The Fault in Our Stars actress, 31, added that she was able to channel her heartbreak into her role in the show. “I was so grateful that at least I could go to work and cry and process my emotions through my character,” she said.

“Three Women feels like it matters a lot — mostly, I think, because it mattered so much to me. I feel honoured to be a part of it, because it genuinely gave me a North Star in a time in my life when my compass … calibration did not exist. And I think it has the potential to provide a North Star for other people out there too.”

Woodley also told Net-a-Porter that attention on her relationship with Rodgers, 39, felt “violating.”

“It honestly never really hit me that millions of people around the world were actually watching these things and paid attention to them. Then, I dated somebody in America who was very, very famous,” said the Big Little Lies star.

“It was the first time that I'd had a quote-unquote ‘famous’ relationship, and I watched scrutiny, opinions, the desire for people to know my life and his life and our life — it just felt violating in a way that, before, it was fun.”

She added, “I’m a very private person, and so I found that any time I posted anything, I instantly felt like I was sharing too much of who I am with people I didn't necessarily trust.”