Bill Belichick is going on the offensive after a clip from CBS News that showed his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, awkwardly kiboshing questions about their relationship in a viral interview.
Through the University of North Carolina, Belichick issued a statement on Wednesday in which he says he stipulated—to his publisher, Simon & Schuster—any interviews to promote his book The Art of Winning “focus solely on the contents of the book.”
CBS said Wednesday that there were “no preconditions or limitations” on the interview, and that was “confirmed repeatedly with his publisher,” before and after the interview.
Belichick’s statement, released hours before the network’s, paints a different picture.
“Unfortunately, that expectation was not honored during the interview,” the statement said. “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. After this occurred several times, Jordon, with whom I share both a personal and professional relationship, stepped in to reiterate that point to help focus the discussion.
“She was not deflecting any specific question or topic but simply doing her job to ensure the interview stayed on track. 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.”
Belichick is 73 and Hudson is 24.
In the statement, Belichick said that the eight-minute segment that aired on CBS on Sunday had been culled from a 35-minute interview.
“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,” Belichick said.
CBS owner Paramount is reportedly nearing settlement terms with President Donald Trump over similar claims. Trump sued CBS last fall, alleging a “deceptive” edit of Kamala Harris’s interview with 60 Minutes.
In his statement, Belichick alluded to the “professional” nature of his relationship with Hudson, which has come into greater focus since the CBS clip went viral. The Athletic reported Wednesday that Hudson’s presence was an “instrumental” part of the reason why the agreement for Belichick and the Tar Heels to participate in HBO/Max’s Hard Knocks: Offseason blew up at the 11th hour.
There have been rumors percolating in sports media circles—covered in Pro Football Talk on Wednesday—that Hudson sought to be credited as an executive producer on Hard Knocks.
It is unknown precisely how much money Hudson stands to earn through her professional affiliation with Belichick, as a kind of swiss-army knife consigliere for all things marketing, publicity, and media production. Belichick used to disdainfully call social media networks by the wrong names; now he’s posting on them, presumably while coordinating with Hudson.
There has been rampant speculation about how much Hudson will bank through her work with Belichick. A British tabloid cited property records on Wednesday showing that she had already bought $9 million worth of real estate since meeting Belichick in 2021, with four mortgages getting paid off in 2025.
