Bill Belichick returned to the hot seat after his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, made headlines for interrupting his CBS interview in April.
The University of North Carolina football coach, 73, sat down for a live segment with Michael Strahan for Good Morning America on Friday, May 16. Amid widespread interest in Belichick’s relationship with Hudson, 24, the host pointed out that Hudson was not on site for the interview.
“She’s been through the whole process, she’s been very helpful to me,” Belichick said of his girlfriend. “She does the business things that don’t relate to North Carolina that come up in my life so I can concentrate on football, and that’s really what I want to do. You know, I acknowledged her in the book, she was very helpful on all that … and also, giving a perspective of the book from the business side. Sometimes I get a little football technical and she did a good job of keeping me on balance there.”
When asked more specifically about his status with Hudson, Belichick played coy. “We have a good personal relationship. You know, I’m not talking about personal relationships,” he replied with a laugh.
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Belichick also insisted that he is happy in his relationship with Hudson. (Days prior, Belichick confirmed in a conversation on ESPN’s SportsCenter that Hudson “doesn’t have anything to do with UNC football” despite speculation otherwise.)
Friday marked one of Belichick’s first interviews since his controversial segment with CBS Sunday Morning aired on April 27. During his sit-down with Tony Dokoupil, which was pegged to the release of his book, The Art of Winning, Belichick defended his relationship with Hudson.
“Never been too worried about what anybody else thinks. Just try to do what I feel like is best for me and what’s right,” Belichick replied when asked how he handles the speculation surrounding his romance with Hudson.
When Dokoupil inquired, “How did you guys meet?” Hudson interjected, “Not talking about this,” from where she was sitting off-camera.
Dokoupil then said in a voiceover, “It’s a topic neither one of them is comfortable commenting on.”
The interview incited backlash among critics of the couple’s relationship — they were first romantically linked in 2023 but actually met two years earlier — and Hudson’s involvement in Belichick’s career.
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Days after the segment aired, Hudson shared via Instagram an email from Belichick about the media’s promotion of his book.
“These appearances will, no doubt, want to focus on whatever negatives they can extract from the book, and all the current events that don’t have anything to do with the book, but are most relevant to their ‘ratings’ and their agenda (which is not mine),” the email read in part.
Belichick added that he wanted the book to be “presented as a look at my professional life and how I did my job” as a coach.
On April 30, Belichick spoke out about the backlash surrounding his CBS interview.
“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,” he said in a statement released by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “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.”
Belichick alleged that the interview veered off-topic “several times,” so Hudson “stepped in” to “help refocus the discussion.” He also clarified that he and Hudson “share a personal and professional relationship.”
“She was not deflecting any specific question or topic but simply doing her job to ensure the interview stayed on track,” he continued. “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.”
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Belichick claimed that the final segment did not reflect the “wide range of topics” about his career that he covered during the 35-minute conversation.
He concluded, “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.”
Later that day, CBS released its own statement denying there were any such parameters on the interview.
“When we agreed to speak with Mr. Belichick, it was for a wide-ranging interview,” a spokesperson for CBS News said. “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.”
