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NFL Coach Mike Vrabel & Reporter Dianna Russini, Both Married, Speak Out After Vacation Pics Emerge
Just when it appeared that NFL coach Mike Vrabel was going to be hit with a major penalty—the New England Patriots' leader was seen interlocking his fingers with married sports journalist Dianna Russini—he challenged the call on the field.
Yes, he and The Athletic’s senior NFL reporter visited a Sedona, Ariz., hotel at the same time, as seen in photos published by Page Six April 7, but they were huddled up with a whole squad.
"These photos show a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable," Vrabel—married to college sweetheart Jen Vrabel since 1999—said in a statement to the outlet. "This doesn’t deserve any further response."
Though his pal Russini, who shares two kids with Shake Shack executive husband Kevin Goldschmidt, was willing to provide an assist.
"The photos don’t represent the group of six people who were hanging out during the day," she explained in a statement to E! News. "Like most journalists in the NFL, reporters interact with sources away from stadiums and other venues."
But how did the pair end up playing defense? We're breaking down all the Xs and Os.
Who Is Mike Vrabel?
In short, Vrabel is the guy from the Patriots. A star during his college days at Ohio State University—a native of nearby Akron the defensive end twice received All-American honors and was named Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year in 1995 and 1996, later getting inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame—the now-50-year-old was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round of the 1997 NFL draft.
Though he sported the black and yellow jersey for four seasons, he spent the bulk of his career suiting up for the Patriots. Tasked with forcing fumbles as an outside linebacker, he also occasionally lined up as a receiver, catching some 12 touchdown passes from then-quarterback Tom Brady.
Wrapping up his playing days with two seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, the three-time Super Bowl champ announced his retirement in 2011 and a new game plan, joining the coaching staff at his alma mater.
In total, he spent nearly seven years on the sidelines with both Ohio State and the Houston Texans before scoring his first head coaching gig with the Tennessee Titans in 2018.
Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Given the chance to wear the headset for his former squad in January 2025, Vrabel truly ran with the ball. While he'd interviewed with the New York Jets and the Chicago Bears, he was excited to call plays for 23-year-old QB Drake Maye.
Thirteen months later, the two were huddling up at the 2026 Super Bowl.
Who Is Dianna Russini?
Like Vrabel, Russini is a major player in the world of sports. All-State in basketball, softball, soccer and track at New Jersey's Northern Valley Regional High School, she spent four years on the pitch at George Mason University. (Though, as she noted in a 2017 interview with USA Today High School Sports, soccer wasn't her "best sport in high school; track was.")
Following reporting gigs in Westchester, New York City and Seattle, Russini, 43, was drafted to work as a sports anchor for NBC News, in West Hartford, Conn. and Washington, D.C.
Starting in 2015, she began suiting up as a SportsCenter anchor.
Asked her best advice for young reporters, she told SportsCenter's Madelyn Burke in a February chat, "I would say to just be relentless. I think, when I look at the times that I really took a step forward, I always was uncomfortable. I was always uncomfortable and just kept going. I didn't let anyone stop me."
By making big plays, like the time she "cold called" NFL coach Bill Parcells, Russini continued, "If you just keep believing in yourself, people around you start believing and sometimes that can really help take you to the next place that you want to be."
For Russini, that spot was on the roster at New York Times brand The Athletic, working as their senior NFL insider. One of the site's highest paid writers, per NBC Sports, she also co-hosts Spotify's Scoop City: Inside the NFL podcast with reporter James Palmer and former quarterback Chase Daniel.
"It wasn’t a situation where ESPN didn’t want me," Russini stressed to NBC Sports of taking the gig in 2023. While she acknowledged, "It was a really difficult decision for me, for my family," she felt there was no more room to run at ESPN.
But her team at The Athletic "just has an endless amount of roles and ideas for me."
Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for Fanatics
Who Are Mike Vrabel and Dianna Russini Married to?
Well before Vrabel was running with the ball for the Patriots, he caught the biggest pass of his life as an Ohio State University student. A member of the Buckeyes' volleyball squad, Jen spied her future husband in a freshman time management lecture and, she detailed to The Tennessean in 2018, "found him funny enough to ask the professor for his phone number." After her big play, she added, they "quickly became inseparable."
Two years after his 1997 draft night (and one after she graduated with a dental hygiene degree) they tied the knot, going on to welcome sons in 2000 and 2001.
"I missed it, I was at practice, she was in Ohio," he later said of his youngest child's birth at a 2018 press conference. "He came early, he flipped, they had to take her. I showed up four hours late because I was playing football and she was having a baby."
Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation
With their sons tackling their own athletic careers (after suiting up at Boston College, their oldest now serves as an assistant coach while his little brother played baseball at Volunteer State Community College and Tennessee Tech), the pair have said Friday date nights are a key play for their marriage.
Meanwhile, Russini found her MVP in Shake Shake senior manager Goldschmidt. Kicking off a romance in 2015, she and the Penn State alum wed in an intimate Covid-era ceremony on Sept. 26, 2020.
"2 years today was the best day of my life—when I married Kev in front of our family and dozens of friends over zoom!" she wrote in a 2022 Instagram tribute. "It’s you and only you, for me."
Plus a few extra teammates, with the arrivals of their sons in 2021 and 2022.
Why Did Mike Vrabel and Dianna Russini Come Under Fire?
Fans threw a proverbial flag on the play when photos were released of Vrabel and Russini sunbathing, hugging and appearing to dance at adults-only resort Ambiente on March 28. While the two reportedly had breakfast, hung in the hot tub and caught a glimpse of the sunset from the roof, each claimed the snaps didn't show the full picture.
While Russini was in Arizona with two friends for a hiking trip, Vrabel reportedly swung through between a scouting trip to Arizona State University and a meeting of the NFL Competition Committee, per Page Six.
Their friendship dates back to at least 2018, when Russini was covering the Titans for ESPN and Vrabel was named head coach.
For Russini, this isn't the first time she's had to field accusations of improper behavior. When she was covering Washington's squad in 2015, Jessica McCloughan suggested she was having an affair with her husband, then-general manager Scot McCloughan.
Referencing a story that broke about Kirk Cousins replacing the team's starting quarterback Robert Griffin III, she reportedly wrote in a since-deleted tweet, "I'm pretty sure this info is coming from my husband to his new side chick, Dianna."
Later apologizing, she called the comment "unfounded and inappropriate," adding that she had "the utmost respect for both the reporter and ESPN."
The network chimed in with their own support of Russini, saying in a statement, "Dianna is an excellent reporter who should never have to be subjected to such vulgar comments. We are obviously extremely disappointed by today’s developments."
Russini's current employer similarly came to her defense on April 7. "These photos are misleading and lack essential context," The Athletic executive editor Steven Ginsberg said in a statement to E! News. "These were public interactions in front of many people. Dianna is a premier journalist covering the NFL and we’re proud to have her at the Athletic."
And Russini is hardly the first public figure to have to block rumors of infidelity. See which other stars had to weave, duck and dodge cheating accusations.
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Kristen Stewart & Robert Pattinson
Months after photos caught Stewart in the act with her Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders, the Twilight co-stars called it quits in 2013. Since then, both actors have sunk their teeth into other relationships.
Pattinson and singer FKA Twigs dated for three years until 2017 and a year later, he began seeing Suki Waterhouse. The couple welcomed a baby girl in 2024.
Meanwhile, Stewart went on to date several women—
including Alicia Cargile, St. Vincent and Stella Maxwell—before marrying Dylan Meyer in 2025.
As for Sanders, he and his then-wife, model Liberty Ross, divorced after 10 years and two kids in the aftermath of the scandal.
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Jennifer Garner & Ben Affleck
The Elektra actress and the Argo star announced that they were ending their 10-year marriage in June 2015. A month after the news, allegations that Affleck had an affair with their children's nanny surfaced, prompting the Oscar winner to publicly deny the claims.
Garner later clarified that she and Affleck broke up long before the rumors, telling Vanity Fair in 2016, "We had been separated for months before I ever heard about the nanny. She had nothing to do with our decision to divorce."
The Alias alum and the Oscar winner divorced in 2018 and continue to co-parent their three kids: Violet, Seraphina and Samuel.
In 2021, Affleck rekindled his '00s relationship with Jennifer Lopez and the two wed the following year. They split in 2024.
Meanwhile, Garner has been dating businessman John Miller on-and-off since 2018.
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Gleb Savchenko & Elena Samodanova
Shortly after announcing their split in November 2020, Samodanova accused her then-estranged husband Savchenko of cheating on her. Fans have speculated that Savchenko and his Dancing With the Stars partner Chrishell Stause were more than just friends, an allegation that both the dancer and the Selling Sunset star denied.
At the time, Savchenko responded to his wife's claims with a statement, saying, "My relationship with Chrishell was and remains strictly platonic. Our friendship during our season on DWTS was not the reason for our split. Elena and I have had longstanding issues in our marriage. This has been an ongoing situation between Elena and I paired with poor timing."
Savchenko and Samodanova—who share daughters Olivia and Zlata—finalized their divorce in October 2021.
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Adam Levine & Behati Prinsloo
In September 2022, Instagram model Sumner Stroh went public with claims that she had a year-long affair with the Maroon 5 singer and that he was trying to name his soon-to-arrive third child after her. Levine denied having an affair, but admitted to using "poor judgment" adding that he "crossed the line during a regrettable period of my life."
In the wake of the allegations, Prinsloo stood by her man, with a source close to the couple telling E! News that the Victoria's Secret Angel is "upset but she does believe him that there was no physical affair."
The couple stayed together and went on to welcome a son, who joined big sisters Dusty Rose and Gio Grace.
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Jesse James & Sandra Bullock
To the shock of many who witnessed her 2009 Academy Award speech dedicated to the West Coast Choppers founder, Bullock filed for divorce months later after James allegedly participated in an 11-month affair with a tattoo model. At the time, James and Bullock were simultaneously in the process of adopting a child, a boy named Louis.
Since then, the Miss Congeniality star adopted a daughter she named Laila and began a romance with photographer Bryan Randall. He died in 2023 at age 57 after battling ALS.
James married Bonnie Rotten in 2022 and the two welcomed a son the following year. Rotten filed for divorce in 2024, but later requested to have her petition be dismissed.
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Nick Young & Iggy Azalea
Even after the couple decided to tough things out amid allegations that the NBA star cheated on the rapper, Azalea eventually called off their engagement in 2016 and admitted to catching Young on security camera footage with other women.
Since then, Young moved on, welcoming four kids with fiancée Keonna Green.
As for Azalea? She, too, became a parent. The "Fancy" hitmaker gave birth to son Onyx with Playboi Carti in 2020.
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Jude Law & Sienna Miller
In 2005, Law publicly apologized to Miller after news broke that he had cheated on her with his children's caretaker. The pair split the following year, but rekindled their romance in 2009 only to separate again in 2011.
The actor has since gone on to father more children (he has seven total) with different women.
Miller got engaged to Tom Sturridge and welcomed daughter Marlowe with him in 2012. However, the couple split 2015.
The actress went on to welcome another daughter with Oli Green in 2024.
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Maria Shriver & Arnold Schwarzenegger
In 2011, fans of the longtime couple were shocked to hear that the actor-turned-California governor confessed to fathering a son, Joseph Baena, with the family housekeeper while still married to Shriver. The journalist filed for divorce months after the scandal broke, and a judge signed off on the final judgement of their separation in 2021.
Despite their split, Schwarzenegger and Shriver have maintained friendly relations and their son Patrick Schwarzenegger has even formed a friendship with Joseph.
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Ime Udoka & Nia Long
Seven years into his engagement with the actress, Udoka was suspended from his role as head coach of the Boston Celtics for the 2022-2023 season after ESPN, citing multiple sources, reported that he had an "intimate relationship with a female member of the franchise's staff."
In response, Udoka took responsibility for his actions and said in a statement, "I want to apologize to our players, fans, the entire Celtics organization, and my family for letting them down. I am sorry for putting the team in this difficult situation, and I accept the team's decision."
The pair split in December 2022.
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Hank Baskett & Kendra Wilkinson
The former Playboy playmate has said her husband's "naïve and gullible" nature led to an alleged cheating scandal in 2014. Though the pair initially tried to move on from it, Wilkinson—who shares son Hank and daughter Alijah with Baskett—filed for divorce in 2018. Their separation was legally finalized a year later.
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Elin Nordegren & Tiger Woods
Following years as the golf world's biggest star, Woods' personal life came to a screeching halt in 2009 when he confessed to cheating on his wife and mother of his two children with multiple women. He later sought treatment for sex addiction, his marriage to the Swedish model dissolved.
Woods went on to date pro skier Lindsey Vonn for three years before their split in 2015. He was linked to Erica Herman before striking up a relationship with Vanessa Trump.
As for Nordegren, she welcomed a son with NFL star Jordan Cameron in 2019.
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Fergie & Josh Duhamel
Only nine months into their marriage, the actor faced allegations he had cheated on the Black Eyed Peas singer. Duhamel called the reported one-night stands "absolutely ridiculous" and Fergie admitted to Oprah Winfrey in a 2013 interview that the setback only made their relationship stronger. The Hollywood couple, parents to son Axl, ultimately split in 2017 after 8 years of marriage.
Duhamel went on to date actress Eiza González before tying the knot with Audra Mari in 2022. The Safe Haven star and the former Miss World America welcomed son Shepherd two years later.
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Brandi Glanville & Eddie Cibrian
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star split from her husband of nine years and the father of their two children in 2009, after he had an affair with singer Leann Rimes on the set of the Lifetime movie Northern Lights.
Though Glanville spent years feuding with her ex and his now-wife, the drama between them has since seemingly subsided. As Glanville explained in 2021, "I think we both grew up a lot because obviously, it was a decade of fighting."
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Ned Fulmer & Ariel Fulmer
Ned, an original member of The Try Guys, parted ways from the popular YouTube comedy group in September 2022 amid rumors that he had cheated on his wife Ariel with someone from his workplace. In a statement released shortly after his departure, the content creator admitted to having a "consensual workplace relationship" and issued an apology "for any pain that my action may have caused to the guys and the fans but most of all to Ariel."
Ariel, who shares two young sons with Ned, shared in a statement of her own, "Nothing is more important to me and Ned than our family and all we request right now is that you respect our privacy for the sake of our kids."
The couple confirmed in 2025 that they had parted ways.
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Tori Spelling & Dean McDermott
Fans of True Tori know the couple's roller coaster romance was brought to a head when her husband cheated on her in 2013 while working in Canada. Though the couple, who share five children together, initially moved past the scandal, they split in 2023.
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Christie Brinkley & Peter Cook
Amid divorce proceedings and a custody battle over their children, Cook admitted to having an affair with his 18-year-old assistant. His divorce with Brinkley was finalized in 2008 after a contentious two-year legal battle.
Brinkley went on to date John Mellencamp, but split with the singer in 2016 after a year together.
As for Cook, he found himself in another cheating scandal in 2014 when his second wife, Suzanne Shaw, accused him of being a serial cheater and issued an apology to Brinkley for not heeding her advice. Cook and Shaw divorced, and the architect married Alba Jancou in 2023.
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Bill Clinton & Hillary Clinton
A year-long "improper physical relationship" between the former U.S. President and White House intern Monica Lewinsky nearly cost him his presidency. Hillary remained by her husband's side throughout the media firestorm that ensued and ran for U.S. President herself in 2016.
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David Letterman & Regina Lasko
In 2009, the Late Show host revealed someone was threatening to blackmail him with information that would've revealed his many extramarital relations with female employees on his show. Letterman confirmed the allegations, and issued an apology to his longtime partner and staff. Letterman and Lasko have remained together, and have one son.
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Ramona Singer & Mario Singer
After 20 years of marriage, the Real Housewives of New York cast member said goodbye when she caught her husband cheating on her. The reality TV star then turned lemons into pinot grigio, launching her own line of wine and getting involved with AOA Restaurant in the Big Apple.
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