Charles Barkley is *not* holding back and he is absolutely not letting Aaron Rodgers off the hook. The former NBA legend went scorched earth on the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback after Rodgers’ viral podcast moments last month, where he dropped some seriously wild accusations about his ex-girlfriends, Danica Patrick and Shailene Woodley. Barkley isn’t one to mince words, and he made it crystal clear he thinks Rodgers is handling things all wrong.
Chuck Rips Rodgers’ Exit Strategy
Barkley, who has been a staple on *Inside the NBA* for 26 seasons alongside Kenny Smith, Shaquille O’Neal, and Ernie Johnson Jr., compared Rodgers’ public comments to how he’s going to handle his own eventual exit from the show. And let me tell you, the comparison was brutal. “I tell you what though, I’m not gonna bury everybody going out the door like Aaron,” Barkley quipped, per *Awful Announcing*. “I’m not gonna burn every bridge and talk bad about all my exes on my way out the door like he’s doing.” That’s a direct shot, straight from Sir Charles, letting Rodgers know he’s watching and he’s not impressed with the public airing of grievances.
Rodgers’ Shocking Podcast Confessions
So what exactly did Rodgers say that got Barkley so fired up? It all went down on his Steelers teammate Cam Heyward’s *Not Just Football* podcast last month. Rodgers certainly didn’t hold back, detailing some pretty intimate and unflattering claims about his past relationships. When talking about Danica Patrick, whom he dated from January 2018 to July 2020, Rodgers recalled that “She had just retired. She was depressed and not fun to be around, but I didn’t leave her because I was trying to be there and be a good partner.” He then escalated things, claiming Patrick has been “misleading” about their breakup. Rodgers stated, “She tells a story that, ‘I was so blindsided by getting left by you, and he leaves a trail of blood around.’ I’m like what are you talking about? That is not what happened by any means.” Yikes.
And it didn’t stop there. Rodgers moved on to Shailene Woodley, to whom he was engaged after proposing in December 2020. They dated from 2020 to April 2022. Rodgers alleged that Woodley told him she “wanted to be intimate with another man before they got married.” He also claimed that after he proposed, she took the ring off by March. It’s a whole lot of TMI, and it paints a picture that is, to put it mildly, messy. For her part, neither Danica Patrick nor Shailene Woodley have directly responded to Rodgers’ statements.
This isn’t just a gossip column story, folks. When a high-profile athlete like Rodgers spills this much personal detail, and then a respected figure like Barkley calls him out so publicly, it changes the conversation. What does this mean for Rodgers’ public image? How will these comments affect his standing in the league or with fans? We’re all waiting to see if there’s any response from the women involved, or if this public drama will just linger, another shadow over the Steelers’ QB.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by The Sporting News.
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