Last week, 18-year-old Packers fan, Callie Kessler, had her tonsils removed, and her parents captured a tearful, post-surgery video where Kessler professed her love for Aaron Rodgers and wished for 400 popsicles … all while still feeling the remnants of anesthesia.
The video went viral because of course it did, and word of the video eventually made its way to Rodgers’ girlfriend, Danica Patrick.
That was when Danica reached out to the young Packers fan and looked to make her post-surgery wish come true. Those 400 popsicles would be on the way.
We would like to buy you 400 popsicles. Dm your address. 😉 We hope you feel better, but if you don’t, the popsicles should help a little! 🙌🏼 @AaronRodgers12https://t.co/DMezMuCDWy
And sure, it wasn’t the most lavish of gifts — 400 Otter Pops go for around $20. But Kessler specifically asked for 400 popsicles, and that’s exactly what she got.
While Rodgers didn’t respond to the video on social media, Patrick and Rodgers both, according to ESPN, made the arrangements to send Kessler the frozen treats.
In the two years since the sports power couple went public with their relationship, they’ve traveled all over, including to India, England, Zambia, New Zealand and Paris — a surprise trip for Patrick’s birthday last March. Recently buying a $28 million mansion, as Variety reported, in Malibu, Patrick said they’re spending a lot of offseason time in California when they’re not traveling.
“It’s pretty good,” Danica told For The Win this week. “We look at each other a lot and say, ‘Wow, it’s a pretty good life.'”
Patrick and Rodgers have a trip planned nearly every week, she said, and that’s just the way they like it. A lot of it revolves around golf tournaments, so right now, they’re in California with Rodgers playing in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. With a few couples to make up a good group of friends with them, it’s an eventful vacation with “a whole week of having fun and entertaining and drinking wine and watching golf.”
Golf tournaments aside — they’ll also go to the American Century Championship on Lake Tahoe in July — Patrick said she and Rodgers are in the process of blocking out a month and planning a big offseason trip.
But not everyone does well on the road with their loved ones, and Patrick joked about how “some people are really late all the time or they take forever to get ready.” But she explained that she and Rodgers have similar travel interests, like trying new things, learning about cultures outside of their own, visiting historical sites and exploring spiritual experiences.
“We’re very good travel buddies,” Patrick said. “We both want to do the same things, we want to go to the same places, we want to have similar experiences, we want to see the same stuff.
“It was one of the things we connected on very early on when we started talking: Travel and wanting to travel and that no matter what, that was going to happen for us in our lives. And then we came to find out we’re really good travel partners too.”
“We really enjoy traveling. She went on the trip to India and Africa, and we had a blast. And we’ve taken some trips domestically that have been fun. 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.
Patrick’s mentality about how she imagined her retirement from racing has changed following her seven full-time seasons in IndyCar and six in NASCAR. She has speaking engagements, remains involved with her Napa-area wine company, Somnium, and puts out a weekly podcast called Pretty Intense (guests have ranged from Rodgers to Alex Rodriguez to her dad).
But she’s learning to do less.
“I have actually come around to the idea and be really honestly totally happy with this idea that I don’t have to do more or I don’t even have to do as much as I used to do,” Patrick said. “I can do less. Life is OK doing less, and that’s a part of retiring that I wanted as well.
“It gets hard when you get in this mindset and you have a go-go mentality and an aggressive mindset to accomplishing things in life where you just think, ‘OK, what’s next? Let’s make this big, and what can we do here?’ And then to realize, ‘Wow, I’m actually totally fine with just doing a little less.'”
The nine-month NASCAR schedule is beyond demanding with 36 race weekends, plus two exhibition events. And when drivers aren’t competing, their days are still filled with sponsorship obligations and fan- or team-related events.
It’s a near-constant grind, and after so many years of working her way up to being the first woman to compete consistently at the top of two motor sports series, Patrick is enjoying the benefits of her success.
“The priorities have just shifted,” she said, and they now include time blocked off for Packers games and playoff runs, in addition to traveling and her businesses. “But it’s really, really lovely.”
Sunday’s NFC championship game was tough to watch for Green Bay Packers fans with the San Francisco 49ers taking a 27-zip halftime lead before winning, 37-20, and booking their trip to the Super Bowl. That includes Danica Patrick, who, although she was raised a Chicago Bears fan, now cheers for Green Bay and boyfriend Aaron Rodgers.
After the loss, Patrick offered a heartfelt and encouraging message to Rodgers and the Packers, but no matter how much faith she had in the quarterback or team, it sounds like she knew it was over before it actually was.
Participating in a speaker series Tuesday in Rancho Mirage, California, the retired NASCAR driver talked about her experience at the NFC title game in San Francisco on Sunday and shared a hilarious detail about the blowout loss.
“As I was walking down during halftime (Packers trailing 27-0), 49ers fans would see me and just sort of say ‘Sorry’ or ‘It’s not ever yet, Aaron’s got us right where he wants us,'” she said. “And I was thinking, ‘That’s very nice of you, but no.'”
That’s fair, because while she regularly praises her boyfriend’s ability on the field (and his “hotness”), a 27-point deficit with a Super Bowl appearance on the line is awfully difficult to overcome — especially against a team like the 49ers and their conference-leading defense.
After the Packers’ loss, Patrick, one of the team’s most vocal cheerleaders, wrote on Instagram, in part: “Something tells me this is just the beginning of a good long run” for Green Bay.
Aaron Rodgers saw another attempt to get back to the Super Bowl fall short Sunday when the Green Bay Packers lost to the San Francisco 49ers, 37-20.
Rodgers fell to 1-3 in NFC Championship Games, as the Packers were never really in this one. They trailed 27-0 at halftime before scoring a few touchdowns in the second half when things were pretty much over.
Rodgers, who has one Super Bowl ring, has to be crushed after having a 13-3 season end without a trip to the Super Bowl.
Proud. Beyond words.
Endings are always hard. But this season was still pretty amazing and we nearly had our bags packed for the super bowl. I will ever forget the good times we had. Thank you for the memories @aaronrodgers12 ❤️ and squad. Something tells me this is just the beginning of a good long run for the @packers. 💚💛
They did recently buy a mansion on the beach in Malibu, so the offseason shouldn’t be that bad.
From NASCAR and the NFL to traveling the world, here’s a look back at Danica Patrick and Aaron Rodgers’ last two years as a couple.
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.”
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
John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
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.
Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
That weekend, Patrick also shared her first photo with Rodgers (and her family) on Instagram.
2. Danica and Aaron met with the Dalai Lama
Screenshot:
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.
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.
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.
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
Screenshot: @djhaze920
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.”
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.
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.”
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.
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.)
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.
Danica Patrick continues to be Aaron Rodgers’ and the Packers’ biggest cheerleader.
Although Danica Patrick was raised a Chicago Bears fan, she has since switched her allegiance, for obvious reasons, and cheers for not just boyfriend Aaron Rodgers but also the Green Bay Packers as a team. She’s been a vocal supporter throughout the NFL season, so of course, she was pumped when the Packers beat the Seattle Seahawks, 28-23, on Sunday.
Patrick was at Lambeau Field for the divisional round playoff game, when Rodgers threw 16-for-27 for 243 yards and two touchdowns to lead the team to victory. The Packers advanced to the NFC championship game next weekend and will play the San Francisco 49ers, who beat the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday, on the road for a shot at the Super Bowl.
While Patrick updated her Instagram stories Sunday night after the game ended, she shared a photo Monday of Rodgers’ cheering section.
Kind of excited crew last night! 😄 go pack go!!!!!!…..onto San Fran! Feelin it. Anybody else?!!!!!!!
Earlier this season, Patrick celebrated Rodgers’ perfect game in October with a touching message about his ability on the field and his character off it. She said in part:
While Aaron’s greatness is measured and very very impressive on the field, he should also be known for the great human he is off the field. Every weekend there is a group of amazing people that fly from far and wide to support him, some new friends (many are my old friends) but most he has had for decades.
And now that the Packers are onto the NFC championship game Sunday in San Francisco, Patrick is as excited as any Packers fan. She also updated her Instagram stories Monday afternoon, continuing to show her support not just for Rodgers but also the whole team.
Aaron and Danica covered a lot of topics, including Jeopardy!, his UFO sighting and Jordy Nelson’s grandma’s pies.
Danica Patrick officially launched her podcast, Pretty Intense, back in August, and it’s featured a wide range of guests. But no one’s appearance has been more highly anticipated than Aaron Rodgers’.
The Green Bay Packers quarterback and Patrick’s boyfriend was on the episode released Thursday, and in nearly two hours, they covered just about every topic, from football (obviously) to Jeopardy! to his sweet tooth to his UFO sighting.
Patrick confirmed the two were dating back in January of 2018, but they first met at the 2012 ESPY Awards and were friends first. So of course, they know a lot about each other, which didn’t hinder their conversation as Danica treated him like almost any other guest on her podcast (except for the fact that he spent Christmas with her family in matching pajamas).
But there was just too much to focus on one detail of their in-depth conversation. So instead, here are the 11 most important things we learned from Rodgers’ conversation with Patrick.
1. Why Rodgers wants the ball for clutch moments
Even if you’re not part of the winning or losing fan base, football fans know what kind of ridiculous throws Rodgers can make during a two-minute drill or on the last play of the game.
“I feel like everyone can almost feel that you know it’s going down,” Danica said. “You’re the most clutch player ever. And I feel your mental shift into a new space. There’s a sense for that. Can you feel that?”
After he said yes, she asked what that feels like. Rodgers continued:
“Calm, yeah, very calm. When I was [five or six], and I watched Joe Montana take the Niners down the field against the Bengals and threw a touchdown to John Taylor for the win, I remember thinking that’s what I wanted to do.
“Then fast forward, I’m 14, and I’m watching MJ, Michael Jordan, last game with the Bulls, and he crosses up [Bryon] Russell at the foul line and drains a mid-range shot. And that’s what I always said, like, ‘I want to do that. I want the ball in the clutch moments.'”
2. Rodgers has a huuuuge sweet tooth
There are a lot of things Rodgers misses about his healthier diet, which he praised Danica for contributing to with her healthy cooking. And while he thinks his healthy eating helps his performance and recovery significantly, he still thinks about what he doesn’t eat anymore.
“I miss Blizzards for sure from Dairy Queen, 100 percent,” he said, adding it’s the Oreo and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup mix that he loves. “I miss going after gallons of ice cream. I miss Starburst jelly beans for dinner.”
But he does throw in a couple extra cheat days when Patrick isn’t in town (because apparently she never has cheat days). She joked that their supply of vegan chocolate chips “goes way down” when she’s not around.
Rodgers: The best part is sometimes when you hide them and you think I’m not going to be able to find them, but I doooo.
Danica: You do, because I don’t try real hard.
3. Rodgers wanted to be on Jeopardy! from a very young age
Rodgers actually was on the game show in 2015 for Celebrity Jeopardy! week and won $50,000 for charity. And his love for the game show started at a young age.
When he was about five or six years old, he said, he would spend several days visiting his grandparents, and if he visited during the week, he’d watch Jeopardy! with them.
“If it was weekdays, Grandma and Grandpa were watching Jeopardy!, so we were watching Jeopardy! So you got used to seeing Alex up there. Can’t say I would have got any of the questions right, but I do remember enjoying listening and learning and trying to follow what the questions were and why they were asking them in a silly way and why you were answering in the form of a question. and from that point forward, I wanted to be on Jeopardy!“
4. Part of Rodgers’ ideal meal includes a pie from Jordy Nelson’s grandma
Well, for his last meal anyway. While grilling Rodgers with what Danica described as “in-house” questions – not questions from random Instagram users — she asked what his final meal, or “death row meal,” would be. Rodgers listed off a wide variety of things, including three desserts: A blizzard from Dairy Queen, some cupcakes and “a pie from Jordy Nelson’s grandma. I’m going to put that in there as well.
Patrick asked, what kind of pie?
“The Butterfinger or Snickers, and I’m not sharing.”
Also in this line of questions, Danica asked Aaron what three things he wants to do when he retires. He rattled off the first two, skiing and skydiving, quickly. But he couldn’t think of a specific third item, until the couple started talking about traveling, which they both love to do together.
Rodgers said he really wants to go to Egypt, adding: “Before I die, I would like to stand between the paws of the Sphinx.” It’s something he said he’s been thinking about for five years.
Rodgers said Tombstone is one of his “all-time favorite movies,” which also made him always want a good mustache because “Kurt Russell has a badass mustache in that.”
He explained that when he was in his 20s, he always had this line of thinking about mustaches.
“If you are under 35, then your mustache needs to have some sort of brevity, a joke to it,” 36-year-old Rodgers said. “So now it’s a little creepy at times, but I do enjoy it. I think the creepy goes away when it covers the top lip. Then it’s totally cowboy.”
7. Rodgers estimates he does up to 12 crossword puzzles a week
Danica clarified early on the podcast that for those of us who don’t know, Rodgers is particularly smart. When he was a kid, he said he’d take alternative studies classes a couple times a week with other gifted children and would learn about everything from chess to Greek mythology to the weather in grade school.
But he also loves crossword puzzles — another thing learned from his grandparents — and estimated he does up to a dozen a week. He said he does all the ones in his New York Times app, he’ll do USA TODAY‘s and he’ll do ones in the local Green Bay paper if he gets a copy. He also goes through the Times‘ app and pulls out some archived crossword puzzles.
“I do enjoy them, but also I’ve had a number of concussions and you worry about your future brain functions, and I feel like doing crosswords, doing Sudoku, doing KenKen, watching Jeopardy!, brushing your teeth with a different hand, tying your shoes in different orders — there’s a lot of different things that you can do to stay sharp mentally, and I think that’s one of them, crosswords.”
Another question from the people close to them, Patrick asked how she’s impacted his life. From a practical standpoint, he said: “I can’t have as many cheat days, that’s for sure. And then now we’ve got a couple dogs hanging out all the time. That’s been fun. They’re good dogs. They are good dogs, and they make life better.”
He also described both her discipline and work ethic as “inspiring” and praised her curiosity and open-mindedness. And then he explained how, on a deeper level, Danica’s brought peace in his life.
“From an emotional standpoint,” Rodgers said. “I think you’re a very steady person, so that’s been nice to have a steady energy. Energetically, I think you have a steadiness about you. You know who you are and that brings even more calm to the house, which you know me, I’m always about calm and energetic cohesiveness and peace. And you’re a peacemaker. Sometimes you fight for it, but you’re a peacemaker.”
Danica applauded him for his giant book collection, and Rodgers said he wishes he could read more. But when he finds the time, he goes to town on something.
“I enjoy reading books on JFK,” he said. “I recently read a crazy expose [with] just unbelievable detail about his life. The most dense book. I literally read it three times just to try and wrap my head around the information in it.”
Danica then reminded him that he went through three highlighters and took notes while reading that book.
“I love to highlight and underline in my reading,” he continued. “Because there’s so much information, and I want to retain it.”
10. He’s apparently only bad at a handful of activities
When Patrick asked if there’s anything he’s not good at, Rodgers said:
“Yeah, I’m terrible at badminton. I tried wake boarding in high school, and I was terrible at it. Tried surfing before. I’d like to try that again and be good at it, but I’m not good at that.”
11. Rodgers claims he’s had a UFO encounter
He said he was with a friend in New Jersey in early 2005, and they heard an alarm and went outside.
“In the sky, we saw something moving through the clouds,” he said. “The only reference that makes sense for people who have seen Independence Day is that scene when the spaceship is coming through the atmosphere, and the airplane’s coming toward it, and it’s just kind of a moving orange object. That’s what it was in the sky.”
Rodgers said he thought whatever he saw was moving at not a high speed but he was struck by how large it was. He said it clearly “it was unnatural, 100 percent” and not like something he’d seen before, like a 747.
“This was tremendous size and moving left and right, glowing orange like fire, and we were just all frozen. It was me, my buddy and his brother just frozen. Then it goes out of sight, [and we] kind of look at each other like, ‘What in the hell was that?’ And then nobody spoke. …
“Before we could say anything, fighter jets [imitates fighter jet noise]. If you’ve ever been to a flyover or an air show, you know what that sounds like. And I’ve been in the league a long time and seen flyovers and been to air shows as a kid and seen Top Gun. You know what that sounds like, right? It’s four of them, and then nothing. Turn the news on, nothing. Check the papers the next day, nothing.”
He said he continued to look into it and said the alarm they heard was from a nearby nuclear power plant, where he learned a number of UFO sightings occur.
Either way, Rodgers and Patrick acknowledged they both definitely believe there is more life in the universe beyond Earth because “it’s not logical to me,” he said.
Plenty of athletes have found their way into entertainment, creating a while new genre and business and brands opportunities.
Athletes have become as much a part of the entertainment scene as actors. In 2019, the crossover has been massive and the people who have done it have become bigger stars after their careers. Some have managed to do it while still playing.
Michael Strahan
Jason Miller/Getty Images
If it seems like Michael Strahan is everywhere, that’s because the former New York Giants defensive lineman is. He is on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” has an hour show later in the day, is on FOX NFL programming and also produces documentaries.
She shared the sweetest of birthday messages for Rodgers on Monday, with this snap of the two of them smiling on a beach at sunset.
“Happy birthday to my best friend and favorite person in the world!!!!!” she wrote. “You are the one I want to tell my best and worst days to first. I am so grateful the universe made you!!! The star dust started it all, but you have done nothing but make it better every year of your life. Thank you for being the loving, generous, thoughtful, patient, fun, funny, spontaneous, talented, smart, and uber attractive man, that I get to walk through life with. This journey we are on…. it’s a really really good one. I love you. Happiest of birthdays yet!!!!!!”
