Danica Patrick's breakup with Aaron Rodgers affected her deeply.
"I think we learn the most about ourselves through relationships, but there's nothing like heartbreak to really throw you in the deep end of that," Patrick said Monday on the latest episode of National Geographic's Running Wild with Bear Grylls. "But I've learned a lot and as broken open as I was on the sad end, I have felt so much joy in so many more instances and so many more unlikely places than I ever have, so it's like my heart got broken open to both ends of the spectrum."
The former race car driver confirmed in July 2020 that she and the NFL quarterback had ended their relationship, after dating for more than two years.
Since their split, interim Jeopardy! guest host Rodgers began a high-profile romance with actress Shailene Woodley. They announced their engagement in February.
Patrick, meanwhile, has turned to her family.
"[My dad is] always super proud of me," she told Grylls. "My mom too. My sister. I'm really fortunate that I have a family that's super supportive. You gotta have someone you can fall apart with, you know?"
In March, the host of the Pretty Intense podcast explained her mindset about future relationships.
"You know what you don't want so you know what you do, and so maybe it's not necessarily that they have their work cut out for them, but that they're going to be an extremely high-quality person with a lot of boxes to check," she said on The Tamron Hall Show. "It's not as though there are boxes to check, it's just that I know what I want now and I'm not willing to compromise, bend as much, right?"