Bill Belichick responds after CBS interview generated scrutiny of relationship with Jordon Hudson
Former Patriots coach Bill Belichick says his recent interview on "CBS Sunday Morning" created "a false narrative" about his relationship with his girlfriend, 24-year-old Jordon Hudson.
Belichick, 73, who is now head coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, sat down with CBS News' Tony Dokoupil ahead of the release of his new book, "The Art of Winning," but many commenters online focused on the glimpses of his relationship with Hudson.
In a statement released Wednesday, Belichick said, "Prior to this interview, I clearly communicated with my publicist at Simon & Schuster that any promotional interviews I participated in would agree to focus solely on the contents of the book."
"Unfortunately, that expectation was not honored during the interview. 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 centered on the book," the statement continued. "After this 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."
A CBS News spokesperson responded: "When we agreed to speak with Mr. Belichick, it was for 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."
Belichick's statement comes after portions of the interview posted to social media generated scrutiny of his relationship.
Out of the eight-minute segment that aired on "Sunday Morning," Belichick and Dokoupil discussed Hudson, whom the football legend described in his upcoming book as his "creative muse," for about one minute and 30 seconds.
Dokoupil said in the recorded voiceover that Hudson was a "constant presence" during the interview. He asked Belichick, "You have Jordon right over there. Everybody in the world seems to be following this relationship. They've got an opinion about your private life. It's got nothing to do with them, but they're invested in it. How do you deal with that?"
"I've never been too worried about what everybody else thinks," Belichick replied. "Just try to do what I feel like is best for me and what's right."
When Belichick was asked how the two of them met, Hudson spoke up: "Not talking about this."
In his statement Wednesday, Belichick defended Hudson.
"She was not deflecting any specific question or topic but simply doing her job to ensure the interview stayed on track. Some of the clips make it appear as though we 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," he said.
"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 selectively edited clips and stills from just a few minutes of the interview to suggest a false narrative — that Jordon was attempting to control the conversation — which is simply not true."
In a separate statement released Tuesday, Belichick's literary agent, InkWell Management, said the segments resulted in "a raft of hostile social media posts about his personal life."
"Bill has written an authoritative and entertaining book about success that should be judged by its contents, not by the clicks generated by the segment," InkWell Management said.
Belichick's book "The Art of Winning" is scheduled for release May 6.
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