New England Patriots alums Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman think it’s “unfair” that Bill Belichick’s girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, is being criticized for interrupting the coach’s “CBS Sunday Morning” interview.
“People are giving an unfair reality of what’s going on,” Edelman said in a clip from their “Dudes on Dudes” podcast released Wednesday.
“She was jumping into that conversation during the interview just like any PR person would jump in when there’s an unnecessary question that probably [they] didn’t go over in the pre-production meeting.”
Edelman, 38, said he heard Hudson, 24, is playing the role of her 73-year-old boyfriend’s adviser and handling all of his business injuries and social media platforms.
“When you look at this situation and you say, ‘Oh, this is his girlfriend jumping in,’ I think that’s unfair,” the former athlete continued.
“I think she’s actually working with Coach Belichick in the professional world, and she probably went and said, ‘Hey, no. We’re not doing that.’”
Edelman then turned to Gronkowski, 35, and asked, “Doesn’t that always happen? Whenever you do an interview, do you not have a representative there?”
Gronkowski agreed with his former teammate’s reasoning and claimed no one has put the ex-cheerleader’s professional role in Belichick’s life “hand and hand together.”
The duo played for the Patriots during Belichick’s time as the head coach and general manager of the team.
Hudson was heavily criticized after the legendary coach’s CBS interview aired Sunday.
The segment showed reporter Tony Dokoupil asking Belichick how he met Hudson, who chimed in from off-camera, “We’re not talking about this.”
The network noted that Hudson “was a constant presence during [the] interview,” and TMZ later reported that she stormed off set for 30 minutes, causing delays in filming.
Belichick, however, defended Hudson in a statement to Page Six on Wednesday, claiming he had only agreed to talk to CBS about his new book, “The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football,” and “was surprised” when asked personal questions about his life.
“I repeatedly expressed to the reporter, Tony Dokoupil, and the producers that I preferred to keep the conversation centered on the book,” he said in part.
Belichick claimed Hudson only interrupted the interview to “reiterate that point to help refocus the discussion.”
