Danica Patrick’s mentions on social media are often filled with sexist garbage.
That’s still true even though she retired from the male-dominated racing world in 2018, and, as of late, there are plenty of people offering Patrick unsolicited advice about her recent breakup with Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Although she doesn’t typically reply to the trolls and haters, Patrick took the time Monday to respond to one particularly gross comment on one of her Instagram posts.
Sunday, she posted a series of photos with a sweet caption about being thankful for her friends. One person took that post as an opportunity to comment on Patrick’s relationship history and placed the blame entirely on her, despite surely having absolutely no idea why her relationship with Rodgers — or with her ex husband or anyone else, for that matter — didn’t work out.
In the mocking comment dripping with misogyny, the person wrote:
“At 38, its [sic] over for you in the relationship world with high value men. From a failed marriage to failed dating clearly you have a problem in dating.”
In her Instagram stories Monday, Patrick responded with a screenshot of the comment and said:
“If we let what one person thinks of us be our reality, we are doomed.
“Realize that what someone says to us has a lot more to do with their own wounds and reality than ours. Our reality is our decision. Still not easy — but true.”
Instead of ignoring this sexist troll like she usually might, Patrick called out this person to remind her followers not to put too much stock into what anonymous haters on the internet think.
Without mentioning Rodgers specifically on Instagram, Patrick has vaguely referenced their split in posts about personal growth and her own “emotional therapy”. She and Rodgers had been publicly dating since January 2018, and she confirmed their breakup in July.
