4 days ago
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A smitten Bill Belichick was seen cheering on girlfriend Jordon Hudson as she made her North Carolina cheerleading debut at the weekend.
In a photo shared on X by @deacfan73, the 73-year-old is capturing watching Hudson, 24, perform on Sunday alongside Code Black - a competitive cheerleading team based out of Cheer Extreme Raleigh in North Carolina.
The Tar Heels football coach was stood nearby with several other spectators as his partner and her teammates took to the mat.
He appeared to be donning a grey hoodie as he supported Hudson, who was dressed in her glamorous Code Black uniform as she performed on the day.
The day before, Belichick's UNC team were handed their sixth defeat of the season by Wake Forest, before he was accused of showing disrespect to rival coach Jake Dickert.
Hudson, a 2021 national champion in cheerleading, has returned to the mat in recent weeks after being captured working out with Bridgewater State University's team earlier this month.
Bill Belichick was seen supporting Jordon Hudson as she made her North Carolina cheer debut
While he was playing the doting boyfriend on Sunday, Hudson has frequently attended North Carolina games to support Belichick this season.
Earlier this month she narrowly avoided an awkward encounter with his daughter-in-law, Jennifer Schmitt, during a game against Stanford, with both parties appearing to keep their distance on the night.
Schmitt, who at 35 is 11 years older than Hudson, is married to Belichick's son Stephen, who coaches at the University of North Carolina alongside his father as the defensive coordinator.
The exact status of Schmitt and Hudson's relationship has never been made clear but the former broke rank and criticized the cheerleader amid the outrage over her and Belichick's excruciating CBS interview back in April. That day, Hudson sparked uproar by interrupting from off-camera to stop her visibly uncomfortable boyfriend answering a question about how they met.
Amid the massively intense public backlash that followed, Belichick's former New England Patriots players Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski questioned if she was simply doing her job as his de-facto publicist.
Comedian Nikki Glaser stood up for Hudson, agreeing she was acting on behalf of Belichick. But spotting the clip and comment on Instagram, Schmitt wrote back: 'Publicists act in a professional manner and don’t ‘storm’ off set delaying an interview.'
Belichick, 73, and Hudson, 24, have been controversially dating for the past 18 months
It was one of many critical comments that came off the back of that CBS interview - the broadcaster said that while they showed Hudson interfering once, she actually interrupted proceedings on several occasions.
It led to one of Belichick's ex-Patriots players, Ted Johnson, even going as far as to question if his old coach was 'of sound mind' to let Hudson have such an influence over his life.
Belichick, meanwhile, insisted Hudson did what she was supposed to do in a PR capacity and that he had only agreed to speak to CBS about a book he was promoting, not his personal life.
But the shot that would have hit closest to home definitely came from Schmitt. So with that in mind, it is perhaps no surprise that nearly seven months later, they still kept their distance.
