Shailene Woodley Says She 'Lost My Soul' in Past 'Toxic Situation' While Opening Up About Aaron Rodgers Split

Mar. 15, 2025

Shailene Woodley; Aaron Rodgers.Photo:VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty; Ilya S. Savenok/Getty

VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty; Ilya S. Savenok/Getty

Shailene Woodleyis recalling a past “toxic” situation where she “lost” herself.

Woodley, 33, didn’t go into further specifics about the NFL quarterback, 41, but elsewhere she discussed a time she stayed in a “toxic situation” because of her empathy for “someone else.”

“Empathy kind of kept me in this loop of feeling everything for everyone,” she said.

TheBig Little Liesalum admitted she can be empathetic “to a fault” and recalled how she endured a “really awful, traumatic thing” in her life in “early 2022.” That’s around the timeshe and Rodgers called off their engagement in February 2022.

Shailene Woodley on April 25, 2024.Jason Mendez/Getty Images

Jason Mendez/Getty Images

“I felt like I lost my soul, my self, my happiness, my joy,” she said about the “traumatic” event without specifically linking it to the breakup. “I really understood depression and anxiety and, like, complete soul detachment."

Woodley added, “I knew I was depressed when I looked at a tree and felt nothing. That was the lowest low of my life.”

In a September interview with Virgin Atlantic’sVeramagazine, Woodley said she uses her creative side and acting roles to channel and process her emotions.

“I make art to heal my own wounds and understand myself better. But also so that I can figure out why my mom did that thing when I was young, or why my ex-boyfriend said that one thing,” she said. “And that’s the beauty of art. It unlocks doors and helps me release my own entrapments, and it inspires me to see the world differently, through different lenses.”

Shailene Woodley on Dec. 2, 2024.Dia Dipasupil/WireImage

Dia Dipasupil/WireImage

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Elsewhere in that interview, Woodley, who is making herBroadway debut in the new playCult of Love, said she loves life and shared her passion for optimism.

“It’s very easy to live from a state of victimhood. I have done so, for sure, throughout different chapters of my life,” she said. “But it’s so much more rewarding to live from a place of awe and wonder. And that’s what I try to do.”

source: people.com