Shailene Woodley Reflects on ‘Darkest, Hardest Time’ of Her Life After Aaron Rodgers Split: ‘My Personal Life Was S–tty’

23.01.2023 - 19:49 / usmagazine.com

Healing a broken heart. Shailene Woodley opened up about how her personal relationships factored into her work on the TV adaptation of Three Women.

“It was hard to film because I was going through the darkest, hardest time in my life,” the Big Little Lies alum, 31, recalled in her PORTER magazine cover story, published on Monday, January 23. “It was winter in New York, and my personal life was s–tty, so it felt like a big pain bubble for eight months.”

The show — based on Lisa Taddeo‘s book of the same name — wrapped filming in May 2022 after kicking off production the previous fall. While Woodley didn’t specify what contributed to her “pain,” Us Weekly confirmed her split from fiancé Aaron Rodgers in February 2022.

“I was so grateful that at least I could go to work and cry and process my emotions through my character,” the Divergent actress told the outlet, noting that she “found a lot of comfort and inspiration” in collaborating with Taddeo, who wrote and executive produced the upcoming Showtime series.

Woodley tapped into her emotions in a new way during filming and spoke candidly about her self-care journey both on and off set. “I’ve always loved getting older, but it’s almost like I feel an exhale,” she explained. “I’ve been waiting so long to experience not giving a f–k about what other people think about me and my life and the choices I make.”

The California native added: “I’m so excited to continue letting go of so many of the things that controlled me in my twenties; to really experience the joy of life in a way that, when you’re younger, is more difficult to experience – because it’s controlled by the way you were raised instead of the identity that you create as your own person.”

The Golden Globe nominee and