Sports icon, 73, slams ‘false narrative, defends 24yo girlfriend after controversial interview
Bill Belichick claims CBS stepped out of bounds and the legendary coach is going to bat for his 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson.
The NY Post reports he North Carolina head coach released a statement on Wednesday bashing 'CBS Sunday Morning' for 'selective editing' from his controversial interview that featured Hudson interrupting the segment to say her 73-year-old boyfriend would not answer a question about how the two met.
'Unfortunately, the expectation was not honoured during the interview,' Belichick said in the statement.
'I was surprised when unrelated topics were introduced and I repeatedly expressed to the reporter, Tony Dokoupil, and the producers that I preferred to keep the conversation centred on the book.
'After the occurred several times, Jordon, with whom I share both a personal and professional relationship, stepped in to reiterate that point to help refocus the discussion. She was not deflecting any specific question or topic but simply doing her job to ensure the interview stayed on track.
You can watch the awkward interview moment in the video above
'Some of the clips make it appear as though were were avoiding the question of how we met, but we have been open about the fact that Jordon and I met on a flight to Palm Beach in 2021.
'The final eight-minute segment does not reflect the productive 35-minute conversation we had, which covered a wide range of topics related to my career. Instead, it presents edited clips and stills from just a few minutes of the interview to suggest a false narrative — that Jordan was attempting to control the conversation — which is simply not true.'
CBS disputed that claim, responding with their own statement: 'When we agreed to speak with Mr Belichick, it was a wide-ranging interview.
'There were no preconditions or limitations to this conversation. This was confirmed repeatedly with his publisher before the interview took place and after it was completed.'
This statements come three days after the airing of the CBS interview, which some have found cringe-worthy due to Hudson's involvement.
Hudson, a former college cheerleader, was described as a 'constant presence' on the 'CBS Sunday Morning' set, where Belichick spoke with Dokoupil about his prolific NFL coaching career.
When the conversation pivoted to how Belichick and Hudson met, she responded, 'We're not talking about this.'
Pro Football Talk reported it wasn't 'the only time she interjected.'
Hudson and Belichick first crossed paths on a 2021 flight — three years before they made their relationship public.
At the time, Belichick signed a copy of Hudson's 'Deductive Logic' textbook, a moment she reflected on Tuesday in an Instagram Story.
Belichick said he 'clearly communicated' to his publicist, Simon & Schuster, that any promotional interviews would be 'solely' on his upcoming book, 'The Art of Winning – Lessons from My Life in Football,' set to be released May 6.
The CBS interview eventually touched on his relationship with Hudson.
Belichick wasn't up for discussing the interview Monday when he was enjoying a Manhattan date night with Hudson. He did not acknowledge a reporter's question about the Q&A and hopped into an SUV with Hudson.
Last month Belichick asked for Hudson to be copied in on all emails sent to him in his role as North Carolina head coach.
Former New England Patriots stars Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski, who played under Belichick, said it's 'unfair' Hudson is being criticised for interrupting the 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.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News AU
04-06-2025
- Sky News AU
Joy Reid floats speculation that her race, 'anxiety' surrounding Donald Trump played role in MSNBC firing
Ex-MSNBC host Joy Reid spoke out about her show being canceled on Monday, speculating that her race and network "anxiety" surrounding President Donald Trump played a role in her ultimately being fired from the liberal network. "I try not to speculate too much publicly because, again, I can't get inside the minds of other people. But I can tell you what other people have speculated about… There are lots of people at the network who are critical of Donald Trump. I mean, and they're still critical of him, I'm assuming, you know. So I don't think that's [it], but I do know there is a lot of anxiety both there and, I think, in every media. We're seeing it at CBS," she said, referring to Trump's lawsuit against the network over a "60 Minutes" interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. Reid spoke with Katie Couric in a video posted on her Substack page and on her YouTube channel. Reid's MSNBC show was canceled earlier this year. "We're seeing it at ABC, where allegedly 'The View' hosts were told not to go so hard on Trump. There's a push for people to, hey, do less Trump. Do more entertainment. Don't be hard on him," the former MSNBC host said, noting reporting that ABC's "The View" hosts were told to tone down their political discussions. Couric pointed out that there was no difference between Reid and liberal hosts Nicolle Wallace or Rachel Maddow, to which Reid responded, "only in one way was I different. I'm a Black woman doing the thing." "I think that there is a difference for Trump in hearing the kinds of criticisms specifically out of a Black woman, it bothers him in a way it doesn't bother him like anything else. He's got this sort of tick about race, you know, and about, sort of criticism coming specifically from a Black woman because we've seen him lay out and dish out real abuse against Black women journalists," Reid said during her conversation with Couric. "I did a specific thing, which was, I tried to constantly unpack the racial history of the country, which is very much against the sort of Project 2025 thing. And it's something I can do in a certain capacity because of my background, because not only am I a Black woman, but I come from immigrant parents who come from what Donald Trump would consider s---hole countries, but that have a take on race that is different," Reid continued. Reid's show was replaced with "The WeekNight", an ensemble program featuring former Kamala Harris spokesperson Symone Sanders-Townsend, Alicia Menendez, the daughter of disgraced former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, and Michael Steele, the former Republican National Committee chair who now staunchly opposes the GOP. MSNBC's new lineup has struggled in its first month, with Psaki shedding half the audience her predecessors averaged in the same timeslot, and with its other new programming struggling to attract viewers. MSNBC and ABC's "The View" did not immediately return requests for comment. Reid said prior to her show's cancellation, she was told that her show was "down less" in ratings than any other MSNBC show, aside from Maddow's. Reid and her former primetime colleagues faced a major ratings decline after Trump won the election. Her show, "The Reidout," shed 47% of its total audience, averaging just 759,000 viewers after averaging 1.4 million viewers throughout 2024 leading up to Election Day, "Our show was down less than any other primetime show. We were down, other than Rachel Maddow, we were down the least. So we were just told that we were holding on pretty well. And, you know, it's not like the ratings have gotten better since I've been gone. So I can tell you, honestly, I even had my exit interview and no one has told me why I was fired. I have no idea," she said. Reid said MSNBC's reasoning was "scripted" and "perfunctory," and explained that she had started being careful on social media. "We were being very careful, and I was trying to be more careful about anything on social media, because I know there was a real anxiety about social media, very much an anxiety about anything on social media," she said. "I don't know, I genuinely was not told." Fox News' Joseph Wulfsohn and Brian Flood contributed to this report. Originally published as Joy Reid floats speculation that her race, 'anxiety' surrounding Donald Trump played role in MSNBC firing
Sydney Morning Herald
31-05-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
Valerie Mahaffey, actor who played quirky villains, dies aged 71
Valerie Mahaffey, a character actor with a knack for playing eccentric women who sometimes revealed themselves to be sinister in television shows such as Desperate Housewives, Northern Exposure and Devious Maids, died Friday in Los Angeles. She was 71. The cause was cancer, her husband, actor Joseph Kell, said in a statement. 'I have lost the love of my life.' Mahaffey had worked steadily over the past five decades, starting on the NBC daytime soap opera The Doctors, for which she received a Daytime Emmy nomination for best supporting actress in 1980. Most recently, she appeared in the movie The 8th Day, a crime thriller released in March. She was also known for her guest-starring roles on well-known TV series such as Seinfeld and Grey's Anatomy. She won an Emmy for best supporting actress in 1992 for her work as Eve, a hypochondriac, on the 1990s CBS series Northern Exposure, a drama set in Alaska. She was best known for playing seemingly friendly women who become villainous characters in dramas such as Desperate Housewives, where she appeared in nine episodes. In her Desperate Housewives role, as Alma Hodge, she was a woman who was trapped in a loveless marriage and faked her own death to get back at her husband, hoping he would be blamed for her disappearance. She most recently won acclaim for her work in the 2020 dark comedy French Exit, which earned her a nomination for an Independent Spirit Award for her portrayal of Madame Reynard, a scene-stealing eccentric widow. In an interview in 2021 with the Gold Derby, Mahaffey discussed the role, saying: 'I know how to be funny. I've done sitcoms. I know ba-dum-bum humour.' 'Maybe it's this point in my life,' she added. 'I don't want any artifice. And I wanted to play the truth of every moment.'
The Age
31-05-2025
- The Age
Valerie Mahaffey, actor who played quirky villains, dies aged 71
Valerie Mahaffey, a character actor with a knack for playing eccentric women who sometimes revealed themselves to be sinister in television shows such as Desperate Housewives, Northern Exposure and Devious Maids, died Friday in Los Angeles. She was 71. The cause was cancer, her husband, actor Joseph Kell, said in a statement. 'I have lost the love of my life.' Mahaffey had worked steadily over the past five decades, starting on the NBC daytime soap opera The Doctors, for which she received a Daytime Emmy nomination for best supporting actress in 1980. Most recently, she appeared in the movie The 8th Day, a crime thriller released in March. She was also known for her guest-starring roles on well-known TV series such as Seinfeld and Grey's Anatomy. She won an Emmy for best supporting actress in 1992 for her work as Eve, a hypochondriac, on the 1990s CBS series Northern Exposure, a drama set in Alaska. She was best known for playing seemingly friendly women who become villainous characters in dramas such as Desperate Housewives, where she appeared in nine episodes. In her Desperate Housewives role, as Alma Hodge, she was a woman who was trapped in a loveless marriage and faked her own death to get back at her husband, hoping he would be blamed for her disappearance. She most recently won acclaim for her work in the 2020 dark comedy French Exit, which earned her a nomination for an Independent Spirit Award for her portrayal of Madame Reynard, a scene-stealing eccentric widow. In an interview in 2021 with the Gold Derby, Mahaffey discussed the role, saying: 'I know how to be funny. I've done sitcoms. I know ba-dum-bum humour.' 'Maybe it's this point in my life,' she added. 'I don't want any artifice. And I wanted to play the truth of every moment.'
