Movies News Talk
Shailene Woodley Opens Up About "Heavy Personal Transition" Before Aaron Rodgers Split
Shailene Woodley, the incredibly talented actress known for her roles in films like The Fault in Our Stars, recently shared some deeply personal insights into her life during a revealing interview with Natural Diamonds. The interview comes at a time of increased attention around the actress and after a widely discussed relationship with Aaron Rodgers (a highly famous NFL quarterback); Woodley reflects on filming Three Women (a Starz series adapted from Lisa Taddeo's novel exploring women's sexuality), showing those difficult times, intense and emotionally complex personal experiences and transformations that she endured; demonstrating immense maturity and self-awareness that impacted how much she connected with that particular role.
Woodley, at 32, recalls undergoing a significant personal change while filming, explaining that she had found a deep connection with her character Gia. The actress shared those intensely personal and emotional moments of self-discovery that she experienced, creating a strong connection with the work and the narrative she became a part of. It also became another catalyst in how this emotional experience influenced Woodley's interpretation and engagement with those elements inherent to Gia; impacting both how those events transpired in the show but also becoming important for Woodley herself, further shaping her emotional world in unique and unpredictable ways.
Woodley expresses deep gratitude towards her character, emphasizing how important those moments of connection actually were during those immensely challenging Personal Transitions. The actress states that her work and experience with Gia became "a grounding rod artistically and professionally"; further clarifying how profound that relationship truly was for Woodley, even becoming extremely important, lasting and extremely impactful after production itself. It's extremely interesting, that the specific plot line, although rooted in true experiences, also includes fiction. Woodley clarifies, “The plot line and story of [my character] Gia are truthful to Lisa’s history but also fictional. She could relay her Emotional Complexities about those experiences," demonstrating the deep commitment and focus needed from this skilled and insightful actress; highlighting just how creative those plot and character moments truly are in the series itself.
She notes a deeper connection, claiming Gia became “a soulmate.” Woodley even notes additional moments where this impacted other important aspects in her emotional world and the intensely painful experiences and feelings inherent with that journey. It’s also revealed further that those sentiments surrounding those experiences, those incredibly deeply personal feelings and traumas became critical turning points for her emotionally. Woodley expresses this openly by expressing her ongoing attempts towards understanding certain experiences: “One of the things that causes the most suffering in my life is this feeling of existential aloneness, which is different from loneliness,” completely highlighting the vast emotional experiences that impact not just individuals but often are what iNFLuences many different actions and interpretations of the world. Her final reflection on this; and the sentiments surrounding the series herself, perfectly convey just how critical this particular role was; showcasing another layer of self-awareness that has increased in the time after the series ended.
Filming for Three Women began October 2021, wrapping up a month later; yet we’re learning here it already greatly impacted Woodley prior to these times, creating additional levels of engagement with those characters she later became part of; it affected the role in unique ways not always expected; these are deeply emotional experiences and the interview demonstrates those raw moments where feelings come through.
News of Woodley's and Rodgers' engagement break-up in February 2022 adds a timeline – one occurring roughly soon after production. The timeline creates that connection, hinting how intense this entire emotional turmoil actually was and Woodley later clarified, talking to Bustle earlier this year those deep struggles regarding "falling in love with unavailability” and the struggles behind learning “to walk away without the need to understand why certain things didn’t play out the way that I may have desired them to," highlighting a profound acceptance of both her and those personal choices which had impacted how that overall relationship changed.
And those post-breakup remarks from both people involved highlight a lot: Rodgers' Instagram post praising her, those comments after production and in a far different setting: a key thing here involves Woodley's interview explaining that this breakup had caused deep feelings; resulting in significant mental struggles that continue. This explains exactly how intense and complex this experience and break-up truly was and hints towards this difficult and highly private separation experienced between the two.
Woodley’s interview offers rare vulnerability, conveying an intensely difficult and private period that resulted in much inner conflict and immense suffering which became profoundly cathartic. She explains and shows this entire process as becoming critically relevant during the series's production itself, those raw, deeply emotional struggles which only this actress is able to reveal honestly; revealing also how extremely important the art became, demonstrating immense emotional strength and the profound way that artistry impacted not only this actress, but how powerful such expression truly is, to her.