Danica Patrick’s ‘Heart Got Broken Open’ During Aaron Rodgers Split

Danica Patrick learned a lot after breaking up with Aaron Rodgers. The former NASCAR star appeared on the show Running Wild With Bear Grylls this week and talked about being hurt after the split. At the same time, Patrick has felt her share of happiness during the last nine months.

“I think we learn the most about ourselves through relationships, but there’s nothing like heartbreak to really throw you in the deep end of that,” Patrick, 39, said. “But I’ve learned a lot and as broken open as I was on the sad end, I have felt so much joy in so many more instances and so many more unlikely places than I ever have, so it’s like my heart got broken open to both ends of the spectrum.”

Bear Grylls asked Patrick if she experienced any “hard breakups” during her time as a public figure. Rodgers and Patrick called things off in July 2020. The news came after the couple was dating for over two years. In February, Rodgers revealed he got engaged last year and it was later confirmed that Shailene Woodley would be his bride.

Patrick also told Grylls her family has been very supportive throughout her career. “[My dad is] always super proud of me,” she revealed. “My mom too. My sister. I’m really fortunate that I have a family that’s super supportive. You gotta have someone you can fall apart with, you know?” In March, Patrick appeared on Tamron Hall and said she knows what she’s looking for in a boyfriend.

“When you know what you don’t want, you know what you do want,” she said. “It’s not necessarily that they have their work cut out for him but that they’re going to be an extremely high-quality person with a lot of boxes to check. It’s not as though there are boxes to check, it’s just that I know what I want now and I’m not willing to compromise [or] bend as much.”

She also talked about the changes she has made that allowed her to refocus on how she sees relationships. “There’s also this meeting on the other side of going, once I have healed, and I have processed and I have accepted the imperfections that exist within me, I now give permission for the other person to be imperfect, and I also don’t see their flaws as much,” she stated. “I use this reference because it’s mine: If someone’s lazy, I judge that right, because I don’t allow myself to be lazy. So now if I can create a healthy dynamic within myself of maybe reframing it and doing it more which is ‘resting’ now, if someone’s resting it used to be called lazy, but I’m not triggered anymore.”