It’s been two years since Danica Patrick first confirmed her relationship with Aaron Rodgers, making them one of the most high-profile sports couples out there. In the same breath, she also acknowledged that, despite being raised a Chicago Bears fan, she would cheer for the Green Bay Packers as a team and not just for their quarterback.
And a few days after Patrick shared that news in 2018, she elaborated on their relationship, telling For The Win that after meeting at the 2012 ESPY Awards, the two remained distant friends and “kept in vague touch.”
“So one thing led to another, and we realized how similar we were, and yeah, that got the ball rolling,” Danica told For The Win in January of 2018.
Since first opening up about their relationship, Patrick and Rodgers have had an eventful couple of years together, from going to each other’s sporting events to traveling the world. And luckily for their fans, it’s all been well-documented on their social media accounts.
So in honor of the anniversary of them going public with their relationship, we’re taking a chronological look back at some of their best moments together.
1. Danica and Aaron at the 2018 Daytona 500
Patrick’s retirement tour was dubbed the “Danica Double” as she concluded her 13-year career racing at the top of American motor sports with the NASCAR’s Daytona 500 and IndyCar’s Indianapolis 500.
About a month after Danica and Rodgers went public with their relationship, the Packers quarterback was at NASCAR’s biggest race of the year to support his girlfriend. Rodgers was with Patrick’s parents and her sister on pit road by her No. 7 GoDaddy Chevrolet before the start of the race.
That weekend, Patrick also shared her first photo with Rodgers (and her family) on Instagram.
2. Danica and Aaron met with the Dalai Lama
Patrick and Rodgers took a trip around the world in the spring of 2018, and it included a stop in India with a visit with the Dalai Lama. During their visit, Patrick was encouraged by a Buddhist monk to show a video of her crashing to His Holiness. As she explained weeks after the visit while on Jimmy Kimmel Live:
“So I was like, all right, this is gonna be awkward in meeting His Holiness, like, ‘Oh, check me out crashing.’ So I showed it to him and he kind of handed it back to me. But then later that night, (the) Lama told me that they watched more of the video, and he thought that it was really, really, really scary and crazy what I did.”
Their trip also included a visit to Zambia, working with the Starkey Hearing Foundation to help provide adults and children with hearing aids.
3. Danica and Aaron at the 2018 Indy 500
For the final race of her career in any discipline, Patrick returned to her open-wheeled racing roots to compete in the Indianapolis 500. And like at Daytona, Rodgers was with her family on pit road before the green flag. Being extra supportive of her career, Rogers was even wearing a “Danica Double” hat ahead of the race.
In an interview with Michele Tafoya for Artful Living in October of 2018, Rodgers opened up about their relationship and praised Danica’s career as one of the few women in racing and the only one to race full-time at the top of both NASCAR and IndyCar.
“There aren’t many women who race. None who ever won an Indy race and none with as many top-10 finishes as her in NASCAR or on the pole. Every now and then, a woman plays in a PGA Tour event. But it’s rare to see a woman go into a man’s sporting world and do as well as she did. It’s tough. She’s a strong woman, and she went through a lot in her career.”
4. Danica and Aaron at the 2018 ESPYS
After first meeting at the ESPY Awards years earlier, Patrick and Rodgers made their red carpet debut together at the 2018 show, which Patrick hosted. And because of that, the couple was part of a skit parodying the movie I, Tonya called Me, Danica, which actually turned out to be a hilarious highlight of the awards show.
If you enjoyed "I, Tonya," you'll love "Me, Danica" featuring @danicapatrick and @AaronRodgers12. pic.twitter.com/lVkKjbCWep
— ESPN (@espn) July 19, 2018
Though it subbed out pieces of Tonya Harding’s career with moments from Patrick’s, she embodied the movie’s portrayal of Harding, while Rodgers was supposed to be Harding’s ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly.
After the show, Patrick posted this adorable photo of her and Rodgers on Instagram, thanking him and everyone else who helped her prepare to host the ESPYS.
5. Danica and Aaron visited Stonehenge
Although we’re not entirely sure when this happened — perhaps on the same trip as when they went to India and Zambia — at some point in the first half of 2018, Patrick and Rodgers visited Stonehenge, which is pretty cool. In an Instagram post recapping the first half of the year, she described it as a “quick pit stop at Stonehenge.”
6. Danica and Aaron’s first fabulous Halloween costumes
Surprisingly, neither Patrick nor Rodgers posted a photo of them in their Halloween costumes that year. But judging by this photo, it looks like they dressed up as Westley and Buttercup from The Princess Bride.
7. That time Danica and Aaron decorated stockings
Recapping the second half of her eventful 2018, Patrick was particularly excited about the couple decorating Christmas stockings for each other. Super cute.
8. Danica and Aaron in New Zealand
They love to travel together, and in January of 2018, they went to New Zealand. In the 2018 interview with Artful Living, Rodgers explained why they’re good travel buddies:
“I’m a little further out there in my love for history; I want to go to historical sites around the world. She’s getting into it as well, but she’s spontaneous. She’s up for anything travel-wise, which is fun. She’s a good travel partner because she’s so laid-back and low-maintenance.”
9. Aaron went all in for Danica’s birthday
For Patrick’s 37th birthday last March, Rodgers helped plan what Danica called an “epic trip” to Napa Valley. Patrick has her own wine company, Somnium, in the area, but she said they bounced around visiting some of the best restaurants and wineries.
But it got better. For her actual birthday, Rodgers told her to pack a bag, and it turned out he had a trip to Paris planned for them.
10. A festive Fourth of July
Danica and Aaron got really into celebrating the Fourth of July this year, and it included these festive outfits.
11. Danica at Packers training camp
Their support for each other professionally obviously goes both ways. So Patrick was in attendance at Green Bay’s training camp ahead of the 2019 NFL season. She was there with a whole cheering section for Rodgers and the Packers, and wrote in her caption, in part:
“The team works so hard, as I have come to see first hand. Between practices and meetings, it’s more than a full time job when in season. It’s nice to see him doing his thing, looking sharp and hot. The temp was pretty high too! ☺️ Go pack go.”
Patrick is also regularly at Packers games and was super excited when Rodgers had a perfect game and when Green Bay advanced to the NFC championship game.
12. Danica and Aaron go even bigger for Halloween 2019
These two had one of the best sports couples Halloweeen costumes ever this year, dressing up as characters from Napoleon Dynamite. Although they weren’t main characters, they nailed their Deb and Uncle Rico looks perfectly.
13. When Aaron was a guest on Danica’s podcast
Patrick launched her podcast, Pretty Intense, this past summer, and there was a lot of speculation about whether Rodgers would be a guest or not. Other guests she’s had include Alex Rodriguez and Neil deGrasse Tyson, and in late December, Patrick released the episode with Rodgers.
The two had an in-depth conversation on the one-hour, 46-minute episode and covered a wide variety of topics from why Rodgers is clutch in big moments on the field to his love of Jeopardy! to the sweet tooth Danica has helped him tame to UFOs. (Related: 11 things we learned about Aaron Rodgers from Danica Patrick’s podcast.)
14. When Aaron wore matching Christmas PJs with Danica’s family
Very cute.
Bonus
When you’re going up against trips to New Zealand and meeting the Dalai Lama, it’s hard to compete. So while this isn’t necessarily one of their best moments, it is a reminder that they’re a normal couple sometimes.
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