What Derek Jeter's Exes Have Said About Him

Derek Jeter will forever be remembered as a baseball GOAT, all thanks to his legendary career with the New York Yankees. But off the field, he's earned a bit of a playboy reputation, mostly due to his star-studded roster of exes. Before marrying his wife, Hannah Davis, Jeter was romantically linked to a who's who of A-listers, including Jessica Biel, Minka Kelly, Mariah Carey, Vanessa Lachey, Jordana Brewster, and former Miss Universe Lara Dutta.

But despite having been involved in several high-profile relationships (and the biggest name in Hollywood at that), Jeter never really made headlines for his love life. The former athlete was notably a pro at keeping his private life private, going out of his way to maintain his meticulous media profile. "A lot of times, you've got to bite your tongue on a daily basis," Jeter said in an appearance on "The Eli Manning Show" podcast. "With New York, I always felt as though you want to try to limit the distractions, and if you keep adding to a story, it just becomes a distraction for a long period of time." Surprisingly, he also barely bothered to dispel any rumors going around about him, whether they affected his reputation or not. "Just on record, I did not say a bad thing about Page Six or the gossip pages," he added. "I love all you guys. But yeah, anytime there's something about your private life that's not true, you've gotta bite your tongue."

Now a self-described "sleep-deprived father of four," Jeter's far from the playboy persona that's followed him around for years. But truthfully, he never really was the player people made him out to be. Really, just ask his exes, who all seem to have nothing but good things to say about him.

Mariah Carey didn't exactly fall head over heels for Derek Jeter during their brief fling in the '90s, but their time together was memorable enough to inspire not one, but two iconic songs. While they barely lasted a year, Carey spilled to Vulture that Jeter was the muse behind "My All" — about taking risks to be with him for just one night — and "The Roof," which chronicles their first kiss. While it was more of a situationship than a full-blown romance, their tryst certainly sparked some hits.

Then again, Jeter ended up having a more profound impact on her life than she initially thought. Speaking with Oprah Winfrey for AppleTV+'s "The Oprah Conversation," Carey shared that the athlete was the wake-up call she needed to escape her toxic marriage to Tommy Mottola. "[Derek] was a catalyst that helped me get out of that relationship because I believed there was somebody else," she explained, adding that a big factor was race. "It was the racial situation, his mom is Irish, his dad is Black. But he was also very ambiguous looking to me. I didn't know who he was, we met and I've written songs about it."

Perhaps most importantly, Jeter also never made her feel inferior because of her fame, a rarity in her previous relationships. "Honestly, I don't think it was like, 'Oh my gosh, he was the love of my life,'" she continued. "Like, at the time I did, because I didn't think I would ever meet anybody who wouldn't ... what's the word? ... Not looked down on but feel superior to me because of the fact that I'm not one way or another in most people's minds, and they have preconceived notions, whatever."

To this day, it's still unclear if Scarlett Johansson actually made it onto Derek Jeter's list of exes, but plenty of people are convinced they had something going on. She did, however, deny ever dating the athlete, telling ESPN, "We were at a mutual friend's party, and no, we are not dating." But with the two being spotted out together more than once, you can't really fault fans for thinking there was a bit more to their relationship than just friendship.

But whether or not they ever had a fling, Johansson doesn't exactly hide her admiration for Jeter and how she's been a huge New York Yankees fan for years. In fact, she used to attend games with her family and used to carry a Jeter keepsake long before their names were ever linked. "I loved him," she told Parade. "I used to keep his rookie card in my wallet!"

But her Jeter obsession didn't exactly sit well with her husband, Colin Jost, not because he's jealous of the former Yankee captain, but because he's a die-hard New York Mets fan. "It's a sore subject," she quipped. "He just told me that he'd rather see the [Boston] Red Sox win than the Yankees win. Like, what?! I said I was just going to ignore that." Honestly, fair!

Minka Kelly was one of Derek Jeter's longest-lasting relationships before he eventually settled down with Hannah Davis, but you wouldn't have known much about it. The couple kept their three-year romance as private as possible, with Minka being labeled the ultimate WAG dating an MLB superstar. And while the public was quick to accuse her of taking advantage of Jeter's perks, Kelly was having none of it. Case in point: the infamous rumor that she threw a fit at an airline for not allowing her dog to fly first class and called Jeter to swoop in and save the day. "Do people think that somewhere in my brain, I think Derek can save me from someone telling me my dog can't fly?" she told GQ. "If that's the way I worked, he would have left me a long time ago."

But Jeter did end up leaving her, with a source telling E! News that it might have been because Kelly's rising fame at the time didn't sit well with him. "This is Derek's doing for the most part," they claimed. "If you look back at his relationships, as some of the girls started to rise in fame, that's when they broke up ... He has a history of it, and he's just repeating it with Minka." Plus, it didn't help that they were too preoccupied with their respective careers. "There's a lot of pressure on both of them right now," the insider added at the time. "He's the Yankees captain, everything lies on his shoulders. Minka's feeling a lot of pressure with 'Charlie's Angels. ...The relationship just came second."

Another one of Derek Jeter's longest and somewhat public relationships — though even calling it "public" feels like a stretch — was with Vanessa Lachey (née Minnillo). Before she became Mrs. Lachey, she was almost Mrs. Jeter, dating the baseball star on and off from 2003 to 2006. Three years is quite a run, but like with Minka Kelly, you probably didn't hear much about it. The couple kept things incredibly low-key, making just a handful of red-carpet appearances and popping up courtside at NBA games here and there.

Ironically, it was those rare public outings that reportedly led to their split — at least, according to Jeter's former teammate, Jim Leyritz. "That's why the Vanessa thing didn't work out," he once dished (via Essentially Sports). "He didn't want to be seen out. The only [picture] I ever saw was when he went on a trip with Jessica Biel to Puerto Rico." Jeter had his reasons for being so private, though, and they weren't just about avoiding the relentless paparazzi. "I always knew that my job was to limit distractions for my team and not cause headlines," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "So I kept a lot of things to myself."

By now, you've probably noticed that none of Derek Jeter's exes have uttered a bad word about him, which says a lot considering his former playboy reputation. When he finally popped the question to Hannah Davis, even one of his exes, model Vida Guerra, had nothing but kind things to say. In an interview with TMZ, Guerra wished him the best and was genuinely happy he followed through on his plans to settle down.

"He said once he retired he wanted to get married... so he's living his dream. Congratulations to him," she said. "He's really an awesome person, and I wish him all the best." And just to be clear, there's no hint of jealousy on her end, clarifying that even when she was Jeter's girlfriend, being married to him did not once cross her mind. "No... At 22 years old? Nah!" she said.

Apparently, Jeter's goal to get hitched after retirement wasn't exactly a secret. Guerra's comments just further prove that Jeter is a man with a plan! True to form, he proposed to Davis about a year after officially retiring his jersey. And in true Jeter fashion, he didn't even make a big deal out of the engagement — he just casually mentioned it while talking about his dog. "I had no idea what I was in for as a new dog owner. He was a Christmas gift last year from my fiancée, whose family had Mastiffs growing up," he told The Players' Tribune at the time. "I've never owned a pet in my life."