Shailene Woodley is getting candid about the difficult period surrounding her breakup with Aaron Rodgers. [Source: ENews]

Nearly one year after Shailene Woodley and Aaron Rodgers’ breakup, the Three Women actress is reflecting on the chapter of her life post-split: “I was going through the darkest, hardest time.”

Shailene Woodley is getting candid about the difficult period surrounding her breakup with Aaron Rodgers.

The actress—who split from her NFL player fiancé in February 2022—recently reflected on going through the “darkest” time in her life last year. Around the same time as their engagement ended, she was in the throes of filming the drama series, Three Women.

“It was hard to film because I was going through the darkest, hardest time in my life; it was winter in New York, and my personal life was s—ty, so it felt like a big pain bubble for eight months,” Shailene told Porter in an article published Jan. 23. “I was so grateful that at least I could go to work and cry and process my emotions through my character.”

Elsewhere, the Big Little Lies star, 31, also explained that her romance with Aaron, 39—to whom she’d gotten engaged in February 2021—unexpectedly served as a turning point for her relationship with social media.

“It honestly never really hit me that millions of people around the world were actually watching these things and paid attention to them,” she shared, referring to Instagram. “Then, I dated somebody in America who was very, very famous. It was the first time that I’d had a quote-unquote ‘famous’ relationship, and I watched [the] scrutiny, opinions, the desire for people to know my life and his life and our life.”

She continued, “It just felt violated in a way that, before, it was fun. I’m a very private person, and so I found that any time I posted anything, I instantly felt like I was sharing too much of who I am with people I didn’t necessarily trust.”

Though the pair have mostly kept details of their split private, less than a week after calling it quits, the Green Bay Packers quarterback openly shared his gratitude for the actress, writing in an February 2022 Instagram post that she showed him what “unconditional love looks like.”

As for the next chapter in her life? Shailene is more than ready to also give unconditional love to herself.

“I’ve always loved getting older, but it’s almost like I feel an exhale,” she told the outlet. “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.”