Latest England Patriots’ head coach Mike Vrabel and sports journalist Dianna Russini have broken their silence after they were spotted holding hands and hugging while seemingly on vacation.
The photographs, which were published by Page Six on Tuesday, April 7, showed Vrabel, 50, and Russini, 43, spending time together at an opulent resort in Arizona. In response to the outlet, the photographs, through which the pair clutched hands and wrapped their arms around each other on a rooftop, were taken “two weekends ago” at a boutique hotel in Sedona.
Additional photos published by the outlet showed the duo relaxing by a pool next to 1 one other, having fun with time in an out of doors spa together and individually walking around the identical outdoor space.
“These photos show a very innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable,” Vrabel, who shares two children with wife Jen, told the Post, per reporting by NBC Sports, on Tuesday. “This doesn’t deserve any further response.”
Russini, who shares two children with husband Kevin Goldschmidt, also reacted to the snaps making headlines, telling the outlet, “The photos don’t represent the group of six individuals who were hanging out throughout the day. Like most journalists within the NFL, reporters interact with sources away from stadiums and other venues.”
Russini currently covers the NFL for The Athletic. The outlet’s executive editor, Steven Ginsberg, gave his own statement concerning the journalist on Tuesday. “These were public interactions in front of many individuals,” he said, adding, “Dianna is a premier journalist covering the NFL and we’re proud to have her at The Athletic.”
Mike Vrabel Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images
Us Weekly has reached out to representatives for Vrabel and Russini for comment.
Vrabel, a former NFL player who won three Super Bowls with the Patriots, spoke to The Athletic in January 2025 about celebrating his twenty fifth wedding anniversary with wife Jen in Italy several months prior.
The pair were college sweethearts after forming a connection as students at Ohio State University. Jen said in an interview with ESPN in 2019 that as her husband’s coaching profession developed after playing football, the pair ensured their family remained a top priority.
Dianna Russini Ethan Miller/Getty Images
“Fridays are at all times our nights because now we have a teenage son that doesn’t want to hang around with Mom and Dad, so he goes to highschool football games,” Jen told the outlet on the time. “It’s fun. He’s normally home earlier, and we grab dinner. When he coached in college, he really didn’t have an evening like that, so we cherish that night. It was the identical when he played. Fridays were at all times one of the best. It became like a date night or family night.”
As for Russini, who built her profession as a broadcaster for ESPN, the reporter reflected on her marriage to Goldschmidt via Instagram in September 2022.
“2 years today was one of the best day of my life—after I married Kev in front of our family and dozens of friends over Zoom,” Russini wrote, recalling her wedding ceremony amidst the coronavirus pandemic. “It’s you and only you, for me, ceaselessly.”
Given Russini and Vrabel’s longtime involvement within the NFL, their paths have crossed over time. In 2024, Russini said on the “Pardon My Take” podcast that Vrabel had phoned her to complain a few report she was involved in.
“He called me the day after an aggregator took something I said that mainly said Mike Vrabel is just too fat to work,” Russini said on the time. “What I shared … was that I had dinner with a GM on the Senior Bowl and we had conversations about how bizarre this last coaching cycle was and the way crazy it was that [former Patriots coach Bill] Belichick and Vrabel didn’t have gigs.”
She added that the podcast delved into Vrabel’s large physical stature, which sparked a phone call. “When the aggregators took that and adjusted all this, you realize, the best way I said it … he didn’t call me after the piece we did on why he got fired. However the piece … calling him just a little fat, he wasn’t too completely satisfied.”