Danica Patrick is back in the public eye after Aaron Rodgers reopened the book on their high-profile relationship.
The former NASCAR and IndyCar driver surfaced on social media from New Zealand this week, sharing an inside look at a golf getaway with friends just days after Rodgers delivered a remarkably candid account of their time together.
Patrick did not mention Rodgers or acknowledge his comments in any of her posts. Instead, she documented a day at Te Arai Links, sharing selfies with friends and snapshots from the course.
“Top tier girl time,” Patrick wrote alongside one photo.
In another post from the course, she wrote, “Girls just wanna play golf.”
Patrick also shared a group photo with the message, “Best time in the best place. With my girls.”
The posts mark Patrick’s first public activity since Rodgers spoke at length about their relationship and breakup, putting a romance that ended more than six years ago squarely back in the spotlight.
Aaron Rodgers Gives His Side of Relationship With Danica Patrick
Rodgers addressed Patrick during an appearance on Pittsburgh Steelers teammate Cam Heyward’s “Not Just Football” podcast, pushing back against comments his former girlfriend previously made about their relationship.
The two began dating in 2018 and split in July 2020. Patrick has since described the breakup as one of the most painful experiences of her life and has characterized the relationship as emotionally abusive.
Rodgers offered a sharply different account.
“I dated Danica. She had just retired [in November 2017]. She was depressed and not fun to be around,” Rodgers said. “But I didn’t leave her because I was trying to be there and be a good partner. Then it was going a certain direction obviously. There was no intimacy; there was nothing.”
Rodgers also disputed Patrick’s previous account of how their relationship ended.
“She tells a story that she was so blindsided and getting left by you, and that he leaves a trail of blood around him,” Rodgers said. “And I’m like, what are you talking about? That’s not what happened.”
Patrick previously presented her experience differently.
When asked during an interview last year about the most painful experience of her life, Patrick pointed directly to the breakup.
“The breakup with Aaron in 2020, because it was sudden. It felt like it was my life,” Patrick said.
She also discussed what she described as the effect of the relationship on her confidence.
“So when you live with somebody, it’s your whole life… and because the nature of the relationship was emotionally abusive, so that wore me down to nothing,” Patrick said.
Patrick said the experience eventually produced something valuable for her personally.
“But it gave me the greatest gift, which is myself. It gave me the greatest gift of how much I needed to show up for myself and take care of myself.”
Danica Patrick’s New Zealand Trip Has a Connection to Aaron Rodgers
Patrick’s choice of destination adds another wrinkle to her return to social media.
New Zealand is a place she previously visited with Rodgers while the two were together.
Patrick and Rodgers traveled to the country in January 2019, when Patrick shared photos from their trip together. Their vacation included kayaking, a helicopter excursion and bungee jumping.
More than seven years later, Patrick is back in New Zealand under very different circumstances.
Her latest posts centered on golf and time with friends at Te Arai Links on New Zealand’s North Island. One group selfie included Patrick and several friends alongside their caddies, which she captioned, “NZ Dream Team.”
Patrick has given no indication that her return to New Zealand has anything to do with Rodgers, nor has she publicly framed any of her posts as a response to her former boyfriend.
That distinction matters.
Rodgers’ comments have renewed public attention around a relationship that ended in 2020, but Patrick’s first posts since the interview contained no reference to the controversy surrounding it.
For now, while Rodgers has publicly revisited their past, Patrick is sharing something else entirely: a return to New Zealand, a round of golf and time with friends.
Danica Patrick Spotted for First Time Since Aaron Rodgers’ Explosive Relationship Rant