Photo: Getty Images
An expert weighs in on if this actually works for most couples.
By Isaac Serna-Diez — Written on Jun 08, 2021
When Shailene Woodley and Aaron Rodgers revealed their secret engagement back in late February, everyone was wildly surprised.
It seemed like such a random pairing, especially during a crazy time like a global pandemic when everything was closed and meeting new people became harder than ever.
How did Woodley and Rogers start their relationship?
They kept their relationship under wraps for a while, rumors of their pairing first surfaced in early February even though they had started seeing each other much earlier than that. They actually got engaged some time during the pandemic, too.
The seemingly odd pair are actually very happy together, recently taking a trip with Miles Teller and wife Keleigh to Hawaii, and doing a joint interview at Disney.
Woodley often gloats about Rodgers, telling Jimmy Fallon in an interview that he’s a “wonderful, incredible human being,” and joking that she never thought she would be engaged with someone who “threw balls for a living.”
Rodgers also gets a lot of support from Woodley. When he hosted Jeopardy! back in April for two weeks, she encouraged all of her instagram followers to watch, calling him “a super sexy, super attractive guy.”
She’s not the only one who raves about their relationship though. Rodgers revealed in an Instagram Live conversation with Zenith Watch CEO Julien Tornare that his engagement to Shailene Woodley was “the best thing that's happened to me in the last year.”
"Aaron admires Shailene's dedication to her career and to causes, plus they have a lot of fun together and really talk about things," says a source in the sports world. "He has a quiet fire, and I think Shailene needs that. He is confident on the field and in life."
Woodley is known for being an environmentalist, and it helps that Rodgers is as well. He’s often seen rocking aviators from the Karün by Shailene Woodley collection, which are made from recycled materials.
It’s pretty clear at this point that the couple are happy together, but was it always that way?
Shailene Woodley and Aaron Rodgers moved in together almost immediately.
In a recent interview with SHAPE Magazine, Woodley reveals additional details about her relationship with Rodgers during the pandemic.
"Starting a relationship where you immediately move in with someone — because it's a pandemic and you can't just get on a plane and go back and forth on weekends — taught us a lot about each other very quickly," she says.
They moved in together so early because of the pandemic — the same as a lot of couples were forced to do to avoid long-distance love and isolation from their partners.
"I was by myself with my dog and didn't see anyone for three months," she says. "It forced me to be still and quiet." The captive introspection was "really uncomfortable" but worthwhile.
The lockdown left a lot of people alone for a very long time. Without work, friends, or sometimes even family to interact with, it was a struggle for a lot of people to be forced to look inside and be beside themselves.
After a few months in the lockdown, Woodley and Rodgers decided to move in with each other, saying "We jumped in headfirst and got some of the sticky bits out of the way early."
When the pandemic eased up a little and things started to open back up, the couple started returning to their normal lives — together in Montreal, Woodley was on the set of her next film while he was binge-watching Jeopardy! to prepare for a two-week stint as host.
She says that it helped that they could gel without the speed of their regularly scheduled lives, "but I have the perspective that I would have met Aaron in any context, any space in time, because I feel we were meant to be together."
Woodley being a high-profile actress and Rodgers being one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, their lives are sure to get busy and hectic.
Experts don't exactly see it the same way Woodley and Rogers do
“I don’t think I’d agree with Ms. Woodley,” YourTango expert Jacob Brown, a couples therapist in San Francisco weighs in. “I’d see this quick move to cohabitation as a way of actually avoiding working through the “sticky stuff.”
“When I see this happen in my practice, it usually means that one, or both, partners is so uncomfortable working through the difficult parts of a relationship that they try to jump all the way in and avoid the uncomfortable talks as you get to know each other.”
Moving in together so quickly and during the pandemic when they don’t have their normal schedules could actually have an adverse effect on their relationship.
“The danger of this shortcut,” Brown says, “is that you find yourself deep into a relationship without having had the time to build the tools — as a couple — to work through the inevitable conflicts and disagreements.”
Living with another person — especially someone you’re romantically linked with — can be very difficult. The collision between two different lifestyles doesn’t always shape up well in the end.
Even their friends were worried about how fast they moved.
A source close to Rodgers spoke to People in February about how shocked his friends were. “It was a surprise that they got so close so quickly,” the source said. “I mean, it really felt like one day he was with Danica Patrick, and then suddenly he was with Shailene. It happened super fast.”
With an age gap of 8 years — Woodley being 29 and Rodgers being 37 — as well as a stark difference in careers, it’s hard to say what their relationship could look like a few years from now, but at the moment they seem to be thriving so all anyone can do is wish them well.
Isaac Serna-Diez is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice and relationships.