What made Danica Patrick avoid France for years?
A look a what made Danica Patrick avoid France for years.
Danica Patrick is in a league all of her own.
The former IndyCar and NASCAR competitor catapulted herself into superstardom both as an athlete – by becoming the first, and currently the only, woman to win an IndyCar Series race in 2008 – as well as a one-of-a-kind celebrity.
Patrick is an anomaly, having managed to blur the line between sports and entertainment. Although she tends to keep her personal life close to the vest, the model and podcast host whose love life has seen its ebbs and flows once again landed on her feet in early 2018 when she became romantically involved with star NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
7-YEAR ITCH? DANICA PATRICK AND HUSBAND SPLIT
However, Patrick’s love life doesn’t read like a scroll of names and in fact, the GoDaddy pitchwoman’s relationships have actually carried on for years before she and her exes went their separate ways.
Here’s an overview of the not-so-many men in Danica Patrick's life.
Paul Hospenthal
Hospenthal, left, is seen with now-ex-wife Danica Patrick at a race. (Reuters, File )
Little is known about Patrick’s love life before she met and eventually married her now-ex-husband, physical therapist Paul Hospenthal. The two met in 2002 while she was seeking treatment following a hip injury during yoga, and they were married three years later.
In February 2012, Patrick gushed to USA Today about how the Scottsdale, Ariz. physical therapist -- who is 17 years her senior and owns and operates his own clinic -- instilled a frugality in her that still holds true today.
"A lot of that comes from my husband," Patrick told the outlet prior to running in her first Daytona 500. "He's smart and has had his own company for a long time. He's just an intelligent guy. I learned from him how to take care of things. I want to have money when I retire. You don't do that by spending it all."
Nonetheless, the speedster would announce in November of that year via her Facebook page that after seven years of marriage, she and Hospenthal would be divorcing – a split Patrick called “amicable,” according to People.
“He has been an important person and friend in my life and that’s how we will remain moving forward,” Patrick said at the time.
DANICA PATRICK, RICKY STENHOUSE JR. WRECK AT SONOMA
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Danica Patrick with driver Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. at the 2015 ESPYS at Microsoft Theater on July 15, 2015 in Los Angeles, Calif. (Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
With Patrick a newly-minted bachelorette, she turned her love over to fellow NASCAR driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr., in 2013, who at the time was a budding star in his own right at just 25 years old.
"I have a boyfriend, his name is Richard," she told The Associated Press at the time confirming their relationship.
Throughout their romance, Patrick and Stenhouse often traded verbal jabs given the competitive nature of their sport and in March 2016 she went on FOX Sports Radio and declared herself a better driver than the fledgling racer.
DANICA PATRICK GETS CANDID ABOUT HER 'HOT' BOYFRIEND AARON RODGERS
"Do you mean better driver as in following the rules, or do you mean better driver as in, you know, getting from point A to point B quicker?" she asked host Jeffrey Gorman.
When Gorman suggested he'd go with the latter definition, Patrick replied, "Me. That would be me."
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. talks with Danica Patrick at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 25, 2015 in Indianapolis, Ind. (Rainier Ehrhardt/NASCAR via Getty Images)
Patrick has also expressed her desire to marry again. In a documentary directed by sports reporter and anchor, Hannah Storm, Patrick revealed that she had frozen her eggs in the event she decided to have children, though she wouldn’t get the opportunity with Stenhouse.
NASCAR STARS DANICA PATRICK AND RICKY STENHOUSE JR. ANNOUNCE BREAKUP
Per TMZ, Patrick shared an April Fool’s joke on social media in 2017, claiming to be engaged, and when asked by the outlet three months later if there was any engagement news to report since the joke, Patrick revealed that Stenhouse hadn't popped the question.
"I was ready yesterday," Patrick said when pressed on the details. Per TMZ, the couple called it quits in December of that year.
Aaron Rodgers
Danica Patrick and Aaron Rodgers made their red carpet debut at the 2018 ESPY Awards in July. (AP, File )
It wasn’t long before rumors of Patrick's brewing connection to Aaron Rodgers made headway in January 2018. At the time, a rep for the “Pretty Intense” podcast host and entrepreneur confirmed to Fox News that she was in fact in love again — this time to the Super Bowl-winning gunslinger.
At the time of the announcement, Patrick was 35, and Rodgers – who was coming off a high-profile three-year relationship with actress Olivia Munn until they split in April 2017 – was 34.
Danica Patrick, left, gets a kiss from Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, right, before the NASCAR Daytona 500 Cup series auto race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., Sunday, Feb. 18, 2018. (AP, File)
Patrick told The Associated Press that she first met Rodgers in 2012 at The ESPYs.
“I told him a long time ago I’d always root for him as a player,” she recalled. “Now I am probably going to cheer for the whole team. Take out the word ‘probably.’ Now I’m going to cheer for the whole team.”
AARON RODGERS COMPLIMENTS 'DOUBLY AWESOME' GIRLFRIEND DANICA PATRICK
Rodgers told ESPN that same year that it’s not always easy dating when all eyes are on you.
“When you are living out a relationship in the public eye, it’s definitely… it’s difficult,” he explained. “It has some extra constraints because you have other opinions about your relationship, how it affects your work and, you know, just some inappropriate connections… There’s some horrible media outlets that… you say something or do something, where there’s a story, and they just go with it and run with it.”
Patrick and Rodgers appear to be going strong. In November 2019, Patrick even joked on “The Jenny McCarthy Show” that she longs for a proposal from the Packer great.
DANICA PATRICK CELEBRATES BOYFRIEND AARON RODGERS' BIRTHDAY WITH SWEET INSTAGRAM PIC
When asked when she’d get married, Patrick jokingly responded, “Um, tom[orrow] — wait, no, what?”
“You know what, that’s one of those things. You can’t be attached to something going a certain way because if you really want something to happen, there’s that equal energy of being afraid that it’s not going to happen,” Patrick said.
“So you just have to let it go and be like, ‘Well, am I having fun today? Yep.’ Then life’s good,” she continued.
“That’s right, the ride can be so sweet,” McCarthy said in response.
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"I'll probably get proposed to tomorrow now," Patrick jokingly stated.
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