Ready to get back out there.
NFL reporter Dianna Russini announced yesterday that she’s making her return to sports media, months after she resigned from The Athletic over what the New York Times-owned publication says her relationship with New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel raised questions about whether there was an inappropriate relationship between the reporter and her source.
It all started back in April after photos leaked showing the reporter getting close at an adults only resort with New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel. While both Russini and Vrabel initially denied that the photos showed anything romantic, claiming that she was on a “girls trip,” more photos later surfaced showing the two kissing at a bar as far back as 2020, and even renting a private boat together back in 2021 while Russini was pregnant.
After the scandal broke, there were also several unflattering clips of Russini that resurfaced, including one of her making a cringey joke about sex with her husband in front of Vrabel. And the Patriots coach admitted that the ordeal resulted in some “uncomfortable conversations” with his family, while also missing the third day of the NFL Draft to attend counseling.
Russini has largely stayed out of the spotlight since the photos first surfaced, but yesterday she announced her return to the airwaves with a new show, The Russini Report, which will stream on BetUS TV’s website and X account starting tomorrow.
In an interview with People on her return to sports media, Russini called the entire ordeal a “nightmare.”
“The best way to describe what the last six months were like for me is heartbreaking. At the beginning of this, it was a nightmare.”
But she also says that many in the NFL have continued to reach out and support her, even encouraging her to return to work:
“The absolute best part of this situation has been the loyalty the NFL has shown me. They checked in with me almost daily while I wasn’t working to make sure that I was staying connected to football, to check on me as a person and to just see how I was doing.”
As it turns out though, it wasn’t just those in the NFL who stood by her: It was also her husband, Shake Shack executive Kevin Goldschmidt.
Russini says that the the couple, who have been married for six years and have two children together, decided to delete their social media accounts among all of the controversy:
“The lies became so out of control. This was a runaway train, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Once we realized nothing was going to stop this, it became unhealthy for us to read it because it wasn’t helping us heal. It was piling on and adding to what we were already dealing with.”
And she says the entire experience helped to reshape her priorities:
“I would not wish that experience on any person ever. But through it, I did get an opportunity to not just learn about myself, but my family and our priorities, and maybe some decisions and things I was doing in my career, and putting it before what I really wanted most, which was to be a mom. And while it was so hard at first, feeling their love and support helped me believe that, ‘Wait, I know I can go back to doing this. I know that they’re settled. I know that we’re a unit, and no one is going to come between us. Nothing’s going to break us.’ ”
I mean, if having an affair with an NFL coach isn’t going to hurt your marriage, I guess you’re pretty solid.
