Yes, Shailene Woodley is engaged to Aaron Rodgers, and her dog approves
Shailene Woodley’s secret life with Aaron Rodgers is not so secret anymore.
The “Mauritanian” actress confirmed her engagement to the NFL star Monday night on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” after Rodgers sparked rumors about the identity of his mystery fiancée earlier this month during his MVP acceptance speech.
“I have a lot of questions,” Fallon began his interview with Woodley. “One is that I keep reading that you are engaged to football great Aaron Rodgers. Is that true? Are congratulations in order?”
“I’ve been reading that too, which is kind of — it’s kind of funny,” Woodley said, seeming to play coy at first. “Yes, we are engaged. We are engaged. But for us it’s not new news. So it’s kind of funny everybody right now is freaking out over it, and we’re like, ‘Yeah, we’ve been engaged for a while.’”
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers didn’t say actress Shailene Woodley’s name when he stealthily announced Saturday night that he was engaged. Now the news is confirmed.
Though most of the world knows Rodgers as the decorated quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, Woodley said she knows him better as “the nerd who wants to host ‘Jeopardy,’” and admitted she’s never been to one of his football games because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“He’s ... a wonderful, incredible human being, but I never thought I’d be engaged to somebody who threw balls for a living,” Woodley joked.
“But he’s really so good at it. ... When I first met him, my dog pulled me aside and was like, ‘If you don’t date this dude, I will disown you as my mother, because the three feet that I run with you when you throw a ball is nothing compared to the marathon I’m able to run with him.’”
Not only has Woodley never seen a Packers game — “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” alum has never been to a football game, period. As someone who “didn’t really grow up with sports,” she’s “still constantly learning” about her betrothed’s profession.
“It was never really on my radar,” she told Fallon. “I knew he was a football guy, but I didn’t know what kind of a football guy he was? ... Friends [would say,] ‘You’ve got to watch his YouTube greatest,’ and I was like, ‘I don’t get it. He’s good? He’s great? Like, I don’t understand.’”
Fallon and Woodley also discussed the latter’s latest project, “The Mauritanian,” which tells the true story of Mohamedou Ould Salahi (Tahar Rahim), an innocent man who was imprisoned for years without trial at Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp.
The legal drama, which opened in theaters Feb. 12 and debuts on video on demand March 2, recently received two Golden Globe nominations for stars Rahim and Jodie Foster.
“Jodie Foster is in the film with me, and she said the other day ... ‘We all have a lot to learn from [Salahi], and I completely agree,” Woodley said.
“So I hope when people see this movie, they don’t just take away the tragedy of ... the circumstances, but also the humanity behind this man’s strength and his will to survive ... in a really beautiful and profound way.”
Tahar Rahim, Jodie Foster, Shailene Woodley and Benedict Cumberbatch star in Kevin Macdonald’s well-acted but miscalculated post-9/11 legal thriller.
The “Tonight Show” host later aired a preview clip from the film that shows Woodley‘s and Foster’s characters in a heated argument. Also among the movie’s star-studded cast are Benedict Cumberbatch, Stevel Marc and Zachary Levi.
“[Foster is] a pro,” Woodley said of her scene partner. “I learned so much from being around her.... The thing that moves me the most about Jodie is she just loves what she does, and she does it for what I would feel like are the right reasons, and she uplifts every environment that she’s in....
“She remains curious and she asks questions that I think a lot of people’s minds wouldn’t even dare to be curious about. And in that regard ... we all have a lot to learn from Jodie Foster as well.”
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