New 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 pictures, which were published by Page Six on Tuesday, April 7, showed Vrabel, 50, and Russini, 43, spending time together at a plush resort in Arizona. According to the outlet, the pictures, in which the pair clutched hands and wrapped their arms around one another 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 one another, enjoying time in an outdoor spa together and individually walking around the same outdoor space.
“These photos show a completely 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 people who were hanging out during the day. Like most journalists in 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 about the journalist on Tuesday. “These were public interactions in front of many people,” he said, adding, “Dianna is a premier journalist covering the NFL and we’re proud to have her at The Athletic.”
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 25th 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 career developed after playing football, the pair ensured their family remained a top priority.
“Fridays are always our nights because we have a teenage son that doesn’t want to hang out with Mom and Dad, so he goes to high school football games,” Jen told the outlet at the time. “It’s fun. He’s usually home earlier, and we grab dinner. When he coached in college, he really didn’t have a night like that, so we cherish that night. It was the same when he played. Fridays were always the best. It became like a date night or family night.”
As for Russini, who built her career as a broadcaster for ESPN, the reporter reflected on her marriage to Goldschmidt via Instagram in September 2022.
“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,” Russini wrote, recalling her wedding ceremony amidst the coronavirus pandemic. “It’s you and only you, for me, forever.”
Given Russini and Vrabel’s longtime involvement in the NFL, their paths have crossed over the years. In 2024, Russini said on the “Pardon My Take” podcast that Vrabel had phoned her to complain about a report she was involved in.
“He called me the day after an aggregator took something I said that basically said Mike Vrabel is too fat to work,” Russini said at the time. “What I shared … was that I had dinner with a GM at the Senior Bowl and we had conversations about how bizarre this last coaching cycle was and how 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 changed all this, you know, the way I said it … he didn’t call me after the piece we did on why he got fired. But the piece … calling him a little fat, he wasn’t too happy.”
