Latest news with #Sterger
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Wife Details Addiction Of Ex Jets Quarterback Brett Favre
Former New York Jets quarterback Brett Favre has remained in the public eye long after his retirement. His wife, Deanna Favre, has opened up over the years about their marriage and relationship issues, his battle with addiction and her cancer diagnosis. The couple are in the headlines following the release of the new Netflix documentary "Untold: The Fall of Favre," which focuses in part on a 2010 scandal in which he was accused of sending sexually explicit photos and messages to New York Jets game-day host Jenn Sterger. Sterger describes the behavior as "unwanted" in the documentary. Advertisement Deanna Favre has not held back about the fact that the couple have had issues in their marriage over the years. 'I'm handling this through faith,' Deanna Favre said when asked about Sterger's accusations in the documentary. Deanna Favre wrote an article for Guideposts in which she discusses various personal tragedies, including being diagnosed with breast cancer, her brother's tragic death in an ATV accident, and her husband's painkiller addiction. "That first week of October 2004 was tough, one of those weeks where right out of the blue your life will never be the same again," Deanna Favre wrote. Advertisement When her breast cancer was diagnosed, "Brett was on the phone in minutes. All he could say was, 'Oh, God,'" Deanna Favre wrote. The couple grew up together in small-town Mississippi, were high school sweethearts, had two daughters and are still married to this day. The Favres met at age 14, with Deanna first becoming pregnant at 19. In college, the quarterback "had become a loud, rough party animal" with a mean side, wrote his wife. Favre also had troubles with painkiller addiction during his playing career. "He was horribly addicted to painkillers, partly as a result of all the injuries he played with. We got through that. He went to the Menninger Clinic and got help. We went through counseling together, and he was once again the best friend I'd ever had — and by now my husband." Advertisement The couple had broken up a few times over the years, always reuniting in the end. 'There were times when we were broken up and we were seeing other people, but we still talked,' Deanna told The Journal Times. 'I always knew if the relationship didn't work out, we could always be friends.' Related: Jets Announce New Uniform Numbers Related: Jets 5 Biggest Takeaways From Inside OTA Practice
Cosmopolitan
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
Jenn Sterger reveals 5 harrowing details cut from Netflix's Untold: The Fall of Favre
Viewers who tuned into Netflix's Untold: The Fall of Favre will be aware of Jenn Sterger, a model and presenter whose career in the sports world was cut short after a story ran – without her consent – exposing the sexual texts, voicemails and photos that married NFL player, Brett Favre, allegedly sent during her 2008 tenure working as a host for the New York Jets. Favre played for the team at the time and Sterger says she never accepted or encouraged his advances, nor actually spoke to him in person. A 2010 Deadspin article which exposed the story, despite Sterger's seeming protests for the alleged harassment and correspondence from Favre to remain private, sent shockwaves around the US. For a time, Favre's reputation took a minor hit but he soon bounced back, before being hit with a later scandal which saw him accused of diverting welfare funding into his own private business ventures. Many fans still defend Favre, who enjoyed a stellar reputation as a footballing legend and family man prior, meanwhile Sterger's contract was not renewed and she claims to have become a pariah on the sports scene. Favre and his wife, Deanna, stayed together, and many fans (and organisations) pledged to stay loyal to the football player over the model who inadvertently exposed a side of Favre's character that didn't live up to the image they had of him in their heads. This is where Jenn Sterger is today, how she first went viral and the details she says were cut from the Untold documentary. Jenn Sterger is a former model and game day host, who now dabbles more in the comedy and podcasting world. She accidentally went viral back in 2005, when she attended an American football game after working a bar shift, and, in her words, because someone had spilled a drink on her shirt decided to attend the game in just a bikini top instead. The game was a big one between rival teams (Miami Hurricanes and Florida State Seminoles) and as the camera scanned the crowd, it caught sight of Jenn and her friends cheering and commentator Brent Musberger remarked "1,500 red-blooded Americans just decided to apply to Florida State". After this, Jenn became known as The Cowgirl and her Facebook friends list exploded, as did offers of modelling work. "That's how Maxim found me, that's how Playboy found me [...] I played the game," she shares in Untold: The Fall of Favre. After writing an article 'Confessions of a Cowgirl' for Sports Illustrated, Sterger then got a job touring campuses and meeting coaches, discussing sports. In August 2008, Sterger got a job as the official game day host for the New York Jets, which is where she came to the attention of Brett Favre, one of the most popular and celebrated NFL players, who was very much married with two children at the time. As per the documentary and a later investigation, Sterger says she was just trying to do her job but was routinely contacted by Favre via text, voicemail and social media. In 2010, a Deadspin article publicly claimed that during the 2008 NFL season, Favre, then the quarterback for the New York Jets, allegedly sent a series of suggestive text messages ad voicemails inviting sideline reporter Sterger to his hotel room, along with explicit photos of himself. Responding to the allegations, the NFL launched an investigation but said it wasn't going to pass judgment on the nature of personal relationships, but was focused solely on whether Favre had violated the NFL's workplace conduct policy. Favre himself admitted to sending voicemails to Sterger but denied being the source of any explicit images. The fallout? Favre was slapped with a $50,000 fine – not for the alleged content, but for "failure to cooperate" with the investigation. The NFL ultimately stated that there wasn't enough evidence to determine whether Favre had sent the photos, nor could they conclude he had breached the league's personal conduct policy. The drama may have fizzled out in terms of official consequences, but the story remains one of the most talked-about controversies in NFL history and Sterger's career took a real beating because of it, while Favre was inducted in the Hall of Fame. In the documentary Sterger adds: "So, here's the craziest part about the whole scandal — I've never met Brett Favre. We've never been in the same room, we've never shaken hands, we had no kind of relationship, no rapport, nothing." These days, Sterger is more focussed on the comedy space (and building a female and queer-friendly community within it) and partakes in acting and voiceover artist work. She also describes herself in her Instagram bio as an "animal advocate, gym rat, nerd, professional tomboy". Sterger co-hosts a podcast, Not Today, with fellow comedian, Eddie Pence, and also delivers seminars to journalist students, positioning herself as a cautionary tale and advocating against 'rage bait' headlines. She urges her listeners and students to have critical thought when it comes to the media, to read beyond the headline and to cross reference stories between multiple sources before coming to a conclusion. Since the Netflix documentary aired, Sterger says she has been saddened by the amount of hatred directed towards women like her who want to tell their story, especially "against powerful men", even in the wake of the #MeToo movement. After watching the documentary for a second time, Sterger said she now feels sorry for Brett Favre, which she cites as a new sign of healing. Speaking on her podcast, Sterger said she wasn't obligated to take part in the NFL's "sham" investigation into what happened between her and Favre, but did so with the best of intentions. "I'm going to give people the benefit of the doubt that they're going to be good, honest people... [but] that's just not how the world works," she told her co-host, Eddie Pence. "Especially when there's so much money on the line." Sterger alleges on her podcast that she had an awkward interaction with the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, about the investigation, telling him she was expecting little to change as a result. "I told him at one point during our meeting ... he got really mad saying 'Are you saying I can't do anything? I'm the commissioner, I can do whatever I want'. I was like 'I'm not saying you can't, I'm saying you won't [...] I'm not worth anything to you, you're going to make more money off this man in his retirement selling his jerseys than any money you'll ever make off of my likeness'," she told listeners. Posting on Instagram, Sterger wrote about how invasive the investigation into the Favre scandal was, "In 2010, during the NFL's investigation I had to hand over 17 binders filled with texts, social media messages, emails and phone records to their investigators (who were former FBI guys). These were not just the texts with Favre," Sterger explained. "They were texts with family. Friends. Boyfriends. They combed through the most intimate moments of my life in an attempt to find a way to make this my fault. They couldn't find any," she continued. "As an independent contractor I was under no obligation to cooperate with them, but did so to clear my name and get the media blitz they had thrust upon me to stop. This is so much more [than dick] pics. It's about the abuse of power and a system designed to harm the little guy and protect the shield. A pretty woman sells magazine copies, newspapers, and is easy to hate. I was not the right martyr for the cause… but I was the perfect scapegoat." Sterger says Michael Vick, another NFL player, likely agreed to appear in the documentary as he is one of the few players unafraid to call the NFL out. Vick had his own reputation as a player tarnished after his dog fighting ring, which saw dogs put down at his request, was exposed. While condemning his animal cruelty past, Sterger caveated that Vick wasn't allowed the redemption arc via the NFL that Brett Favre was. "What he did was atrocious, however [Vick] has worked his ass off to make amends, but I think the thing that doesn't get touched upon in the documentary - and I'm sure it was for editing stuff and honestly because quite frankly it'll make a lot of people mad - I think they wanted to make sure the issue of the film didn't get skewed into a race issue... [But] that's truly a big part of it. The only players that came to my defence were Black NFL players." Sterger filmed with Netflix in her own home and asked the team to respect her wishes not to be made tearful on camera in her safe space. On her podcast, Sterger explains this happened for the most part, but that during one scene she was handed her a letter from the editor of Deadspin who 'sold her out' – which she found to be an emotional moment. "At the end of the day they handed me this letter, this print out, it was a letter or like an article that AJ, the guy from Deadspin had written, post going through AA (Alcoholics Anonymous), when he was making amends and things like that," she explains. "They made me read a letter he wrote and he basically said in there 'What I did to Jenn was wrong and I did it because I didn't see her as a person'. "That was a really hard thing to hear myself say out loud, I've always felt that the internet has just seen me as a picture." Jennifer Savin is Cosmopolitan UK's multiple award-winning Features Editor, who was crowned Digital Journalist of the Year for her work tackling the issues most important to young women. She regularly covers breaking news, cultural trends, health, the royals and more, using her esteemed connections to access the best experts along the way. She's grilled everyone from high-profile politicians to A-list celebrities, and has sensitively interviewed hundreds of people about their real life stories. In addition to this, Jennifer is widely known for her own undercover investigations and campaign work, which includes successfully petitioning the government for change around topics like abortion rights and image-based sexual abuse. Jennifer is also a published author, documentary consultant (helping to create BBC's Deepfake Porn: Could You Be Next?) and a patron for Y.E.S. (a youth services charity). Alongside Cosmopolitan, Jennifer has written for The Times, Women's Health, ELLE and numerous other publications, appeared on podcasts, and spoken on (and hosted) panels for the Women of the World Festival, the University of Manchester and more. In her spare time, Jennifer is a big fan of lipstick, leopard print and over-ordering at dinner. Follow Jennifer on Instagram, X or LinkedIn.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jenn Sterger Shares 'Craziest' Part of Brett Favre Scandal in Netflix Doc
Jenn Sterger shared details of the scandal involving Brett Favre in a new Netflix documentary that streamed on May 20, 2025. The documentary is called Untold: The Fall of Favre, and it focuses on scandals involving the legendary quarterback. One of them is the scandal involving Sterger. 'So, here's the craziest part about the whole scandal—I've never met Brett Favre. We've never been in the same room, we've never shaken hands, we had no kind of relationship, no rapport, nothing,' Sterger says in the Netflix documentary. 'I was never treated like a person," she added. "I think one of the reasons why it's so hard for people to have any empathy for me on the internet is because I'm just a picture to them, and he was Brett Favre." Sterger added on the documentary, "My life was ruined, and he went to the Hall of Fame." Sterger said she was asked by a person at a Jets game, in 2010, while working as a gameday host: "What would you say if I told you Brett Favre wanted your phone number?" The person was not named. At the time, Favre was the team's quarterback. "I like my job, and I look a lot like his wife," Sterger said on the documentary that she responded. She said she received an anonymous message on MySpace saying that the writer was interested in her. She thought she was "being punked by a male co-worker," but then she started getting text messages. "The person was trying to get me to meet them," she said, and even offered to send her a car. She said no, but she was trying to figure out who it was. "The voicemails were definitely where I was like, Oh, I am in serious trouble here." The messages were played in the documentary. "Would love to have you come over tonight," says one, which the documentary attributed to Favre. In 2010, a report in Deadspin "claimed that Favre had sent her a photograph of his genitals, as well as a number of other unsolicited text messages and voicemails in which he had made unwanted advances," People reported. According to People, Favre was also accused of "siphoning government funds meant to help the poor," which is also discussed in the Netflix documentary. Favre has denied wrongdoing, People noted. When the "picture came through," it was in an email that included Favre's last name, Sterger said in the documentary. According to The New York Post, Favre was accused of trying to get Sterger to meet him "via MySpace, texts and voicemail." Favre, who is still married to his wife, Deanna, was not interviewed in the documentary. The Post reported that he declined the request. People reported that, according to Sterger, Favre saw her "from afar" in a stadium tunnel and then "asked a Jets staffer to get Sterger's number for him." He is then accused of "sending texts and later began leaving lewd voicemails," before allegedly sending her the "unsolicited picture." Her security guard, Tim Andre, also spoke in the documentary. He labeled Favre's alleged actions "disgusting." 'She felt genuinely uncomfortable, threatened," Andre said, of Favre's alleged contacts with her. "I could just see it slowly wearing on her. When we were behind the scenes, you could see that she wasn't as excited to be involved, and how could you blame her?: '… We would be in the tunnel and he's looking at her and eye contact, hand gestures, like trying to talk to her, and I'm like, 'This guy is about to go play an NFL game, my God,'' Andre alleged. Then, her contract "was not renewed," and she went into "hiding. I just wanted to put the whole experience behind me." Where is Sterger today? She is 41 and lives in Los Angeles, according to The Post. In the documentary, she talked about how she achieved viral Internet fame. She then developed a career in broadcasting. On Instagram, Sterger uses the name Jennifer Sterger. "Comedian. Actress. VO artist. Writer. Animal Advocate. Gym rat. Nerd. Professional tomboy," her profile says. She said in the Netflix documentary that she was an "influencer for hire" when she became a gameday host for the New York Jets. She wrote on Instagram about her comedic career. "Don't worry.. My parents still ask me when I'm going to get a real job. Honored. Grateful. Disbelief. I promised myself 2024 is the year I stop hiding my comedy. Stop silencing my voice," she wrote. "And stop playing small. Some days I still struggle. Others I burst into tears wondering if it's all worth it. And other days.. I'm just grateful for the other versions of me that never gave up so we could get here. If you needed a sign today to keep going, consider this it," she added.
The Herald Scotland
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Brett Favre Netflix documentary shows a star drowning in scandal
The very definition of the word "untold" is inappropriate here, as those casual sports fans who don't live and die by every game, or have a rooting interest in an athlete, certainly have heard about portions of Favre's career on and off the field. In other words, there isn't much of anything new or earthshattering here, and because it was no shock that Favre is a non-participant in the documentary, you won't see anything that resembles contrition for Favre's well-documented misdeeds, either. One of the more interesting parts of the latest "Untold" from Netflix is that the documentary is only one hour long, which is surprising given the complexity of the subject featured. In efforts to tell a balanced story, Favre's career is the focus of the first 12 minutes of the film, and then Jenn Sterger makes an appearance to tell her story about Favre sending her unsolicited pictures of his private parts when they were both employed by the New York Jets. "Brett Favre ultimately destroyed my life," said Sterger, who was a Jets in-stadium game-day host. "When someone shows you who they are, believe them." To this day, according to Sterger, she has yet to meet Favre, who the NFL fined $50,000 for not cooperating with their investigation. So, who exactly is Brett Favre? If you are watching this film looking for an answer to that question, you won't find it here. Favre apologists will undoubtedly look at the film as a glorified hit piece, and indeed, the last portion of the film, there isn't much good if you're looking for great things to be said about him. Sterger is extensively featured in the documentary, and her story could really stand to use its own episode to tie in the rest of Favre's story. And of course, it touches on the scandal concerning welfare funds in Mississippi, where Favre sought to build a new arena at Southern Mississippi, where his daughter was a member of the volleyball team. The film also shows executive producer A.J. Perez listening to audio recordings after being threatened by Favre's representatives for reporting on the Mississippi welfare scandal, which might be the most interesting part of the entire film. (Perez was previously employed as a reporter for USA TODAY.) Favre ended up using the courts to try to clear his name, suing media personalities Shannon Sharpe and Pat McAfee for defamation, as well as the State Auditor of Mississippi and two journalists, including Anna Wolfe, a reporter with Mississippi Today, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her reporting. Sharpe said Favre would have to be a sorry person "to steal from the lowest of the low," and McAfee opined that the three-time NFL MVP was "stealing from poor people in Mississippi." A federal appeals court tossed out the lawsuit against Sharpe last September, and Favre dropped his suit against McAfee in 2023. The documentary goes through its paces and does its job to hold a viewer's attention, but if you are looking for mind-changing, thought-provoking content, this isn't it.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jenn Sterger on the Brett Favre Sexting Scandal, 15 Years Later
A still from an interview with Jenn Sterger in Untold: The Fall of Favre Credit - Netflix The Netflix documentary Untold: The Fall of Favre, out today, goes deep on two controversies that have stained the legacy Super Bowl champion and Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre: his alleged harassment of former New York Jets field reporter Jenn Sterger in 2008, and his involvement in the diversion of public welfare funds in Mississippi to Favre's alma mater, Southern Mississippi, to pay for a volleyball facility—his daughter was on the team—and to a concussion-drug company in which Favre was the top investor. (Favre has denied wrongdoing in the Mississippi case and hasn't been criminally charged; he has never publicly commented on the harassment allegations.) The documentary details how Favre allegedly sent unsolicited lewd photos to Sterger during his only season playing for the Jets, and Sterger emerges as the moral center of The Fall of Favre, which is co-produced by TIME Studios. When Favre's recklessness became public two years after the incident, in 2010, Sterger found herself embroiled in an explosive tabloid scandal that derailed her promising media career. Favre, who's been married to his wife Deanna since 1996, reportedly admitted to sending voice mails to Sterger, but denied to NFL investigators sharing photos of his privates. In Fall of Favre, however, Sterger makes a compelling case that Favre, who did not participate in the documentary, sent inappropriate messages. When asked by TIME if she'd like to share a message for Favre, more than 15 years later, Sterger demurs. 'I don't think I'm there yet,' she says. 'I'm still processing it all.' She pauses for a moment. 'The hardest thing to do is to forgive someone who hasn't necessarily asked for it and doesn't care that they've harmed you,' says Sterger. 'I don't think he stays up at night thinking about me. I don't think he stays up at night thinking about the people in Mississippi.' (A representative for Favre did not respond to TIME's request for comment.) Sterger serves another reminder of how the media, and public, so often mistreated women who became the butt of late-night monologue jokes, and of toxic backlash, particularly in the pre-#MeToo era. Recent cultural touchstones—essays, podcasts, movies, documentaries—have helped reshape the narratives around 'controversial' figures such as Monica Lewinsky, who was portrayed in a negative light even though the President abused his power in their relationship; Janet Jackson, whose career suffered far worse than Justin Timberlake's after the infamous 'wardrobe malfunction' at the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show; and Britney Spears, whose conservatorship was finally terminated in 2021 (#freebritney). The Fall of Favre should add Sterger's name to this list of dehumanized figures worth a serious second look. The Favre story was a bombshell, as it involved a revered NFL quarterback allegedly doing very questionable things during the waning years of his standout career. Sterger's name was unwittingly plastered across every TV news and sports show around the country. She did not initiate any kind of relationship with Favre, who made his name with the Green Bay Packers from 1992 through 2007. 'I never met him,' Sterger tells TIME. 'Put that in all capital letters.' She did not consent to the public revelation of Favre's messages in Deadspin, whose then-editor later admitted that Sterger had told him about them off the record. She lost job opportunities and received blame for tearing down a hero. Sterger says in the documentary that she 'played the game.' She took advantage of a market that rewarded attractive young women who appealed to a largely male sports audience. She posed in Playboy and Maxim and on occasion wore tight or revealing clothing while doing her work. But she in no way compelled Favre to act badly. During one cringeworthy clip in the documentary, a New York City radio host essentially victim-blames the recipient of alleged workplace sexual harassment. 'Why are we shocked that a football player wanted to sleep with you?' Craig Carton asked Sterger in 2011. 'You were selling sex. He bought it.' 'My life was ruined,' says Sterger in The Fall of Favre. 'And he went to the Hall of Fame.' Before Sterger and Favre both began working with the Jets in 2008, Sterger had developed her own online following, in the pre-Twitter, -Instagram and -TikTok days. A high school band geek from Tampa, she was one of the original influencers, long before that term resonated with anyone. Her life changed overnight when, during a nationally televised Florida State-Miami football game in the fall of 2005, Sterger appeared on screens while cheering for Florida State—where she was a student—in the stands. Sterger was wearing a cowboy hat and bikini top: she says that while bartending that day, someone had spilled beer on her shirt. She happened to be wearing the bathing suit underneath and took advantage of it on a humid night. ABC play-by-play man Brent Musburger took notice. 'Fifteen hundred red-blooded Americans,' said Musburger on the broadcast, 'just decided to apply to Florida State.' Sterger went viral, 2005-style. Her clout on message boards, MySpace, and an upstart site called Facebook exploded. Sports Illustrated gave her an online show, one of the first in sports media. In 2008, the Jets hired her as an in-game host: she had ambitions to become the next Erin Andrews or Suzy Kolber. Soon after the world found out about Favre's alleged messages on her phone, however, opportunities began to dry up. 'I was labeled a problem,' Sterger says. Her talk show on Versus, the sports channel that was rebranded NBC Sports Network in 2012, was canceled. She decided to cooperate with the NFL's investigation into the incident. Favre didn't, and the NFL fined him $50,000. He was making more than $11.5 million with the Minnesota Vikings that season. "He's very valuable to them, even in retirement,' says Sterger. 'And that's something I said to [NFL commissioner] Roger Goodell when I was going through the investigation. I got to meet with him. I said, 'You know, no matter what I show you, you're not going to do anything.' He got defensive. 'Are you saying I can't do anything?' I'm like, 'I'm not saying you can't. I'm saying you won't. There's a difference.' I apologized to him. I'm like, 'I'm really sorry that I'm not as stupid as you were anticipating.'" (The NFL declined to comment.) Sterger says she has turned down many documentary proposals before Fall of Favre director Rebecca Gitlitz–a two-time Emmy winner who directed Under Pressure, a 2023 Netflix docuseries on the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team—won her trust and delivered on her promise to treat her fairly. 'I was very surprised how much of my backstory was included in there,' says Sterger. 'I wasn't just a talking head. I didn't want to come off as a victim. Vulnerable, yes, but not a victim. The stuff Brett did to me, while awful, wasn't as bad as other people can experience. What needs to get talked about more is this uneven power dynamic.' Sterger turned to stand-up comedy about a decade ago and plans on talking more openly about this highly publicized chapter in her life on stage. She has no resentment about Musburger's 2005 comments that altered the trajectory of her life, or anything else that unfolded. 'If you take away any of those experiences, I don't turn out the way that I am,' says Sterger. Therapy has helped her come out of the other side of intense public scrutiny and humiliation. She often gives talks to aspiring sports reporters about navigating potential minefields of the business. 'I like who I've become,' says Sterger. 'I like that the things that have happened to me can help other people. Because that's what it's about.' Write to Sean Gregory at
