Former race car driver Danica Patrick has spoken out about her past relationship with Aaron Rodgers, stating that it was "emotionally abusive". In an interview on The Sage Steele Show, she revealed that the breakup was the most painful experience she's had because it was sudden.

"But it gave me the greatest gift... of how much I needed to show up for myself and take care of myself," Patrick explained. "People could never imagine that I would lack... any confidence or belief in the simple things about who I am. Everything was torn to bits. Yeah, he leaves a trail of blood."

A representative for Rodgers did not respond to PEOPLE's request for comment on Saturday, May 24.

Patrick and Rodgers dated from January 2018 to July 2020. During their relationship, they even purchased a California home in Malibu together. However, following their split, Rodgers said on the Aubrey Marcus Podcast in August 2022 that he learned a lot about mindfulness through their relationship.

Patrick explained that she didn't realize the relationship was emotionally abusive until hindsight, saying "I ignored it, but in real life, it was just like I just feel like — I would say all the time, 'I'm built for hard things. I can handle hard things.' And so I just saw it as a hard thing."

She added that her nature is to try harder and do more, but she realized she needed to take care of herself. "It gave me the greatest gift, the greatest gift, which is myself. It gave me the greatest gift of how much I needed to show up for myself and take care of myself."

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