Derek Jeter Dating History: Every Famous Ex-Girlfriend Before Marrying Hannah Jeter
By Oliver Wiener November 20, 2025 09:54
Long before he was the happily married father of four, living quietly in a $20 million Tampa mansion and running the Miami Marlins’ front office, Derek Sanderson Jeter was the most eligible bachelor in professional sports. From 1996 to 2014, the Yankees’ shortstop collected 3,465 hits, five World Series rings, and according to the New York tabloids a Rolodex that read like the VIP list at a Manhattan nightclub. Jeter never kissed and told (at least not publicly), but the flashbulbs, Page Six sightings, and occasional red-carpet walks painted a clear picture: if you were a supermodel, pop star, or Hollywood ingenue in the early 2000s, chances are “DJ” slid into your DMs the old-fashioned way through a mutual friend at Nobu.
The numbers are Hall of Fame caliber in their own right: 14 All-Star selections, a .310 lifetime average, and by conservative count at least nine A-list romances that made headlines between his rookie year and the day he hung up his spikes. Here’s the starting nine, in roughly chronological order.
1. Mariah Carey (1997–1998) The relationship that launched a thousand paparazzi chases. Jeter, 23 and fresh off his first World Series title, began dating the biggest pop diva on the planet shortly after the Yankees’ ’96 championship. Carey, then married to Sony Music exec Tommy Mottola, separated in ’97 and found an escape in the rookie shortstop. They were photographed everywhere: courtside at Knicks games, in the Hamptons, even celebrating New Year’s Eve together in 1998. “He’s a great guy,” Carey later told Larry King, careful never to spill details. The fling ended amicably when Carey’s divorce drama intensified, but Jeter reportedly still keeps a framed photo from that era in his private office.
2. Lara Dutta (2000–2001) Miss Universe 2000 and the Captain? It happened. The Indian actress/model met Jeter at a photo shoot and the two dated quietly for nearly a year. “Derek is a gentleman,” Dutta said in a 2001 interview with India Today. “Very private, very respectful.” The long-distance factor Bollywood calls for her, Yankee Stadium for him eventually ended it.
3. Jordana Brewster (2002–2003) Fresh off The Fast and the Furious, the Brazilian-American actress was spotted with Jeter at multiple Yankees games and Soho House. They kept it low-key, but Brewster later admitted on Watch What Happens Live that dating Jeter was “intense” because of the constant attention. “You learn quickly that privacy is priceless,” she said.
4. Vanessa Minnillo (2003–2006) The longest pre-Hannah relationship on the résumé. The future Mrs. Nick Lachey (then an MTV host) dated Jeter on and off for three years. They spent holidays together, vacationed in Cabo, and even survived the infamous 2004 “gift basket” rumor the urban legend that Jeter sent one-night stands home with signed memorabilia (a story both camps have repeatedly denied). “He’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met,” Minnillo said in 2006. “We’re still friends.”
5. Jessica Biel (2006–2007) Arguably the most photographed Jeter romance. Biel, coming off 7th Heaven and pre-Justin Timberlake, was seen with Derek in Las Vegas clubs, Puerto Rico, and even at a Yankees–Red Sox game in 2007 (wearing a disguised wig to dodge cameras). “He’s a sweet guy,” Biel told Allure in 2007, “but we’re just friends now.” Translation: classic Jeter breakup line.
6. Minka Kelly (2008–2011) The one that almost broke the bachelor streak. The Friday Night Lights star and Jeter dated seriously for three years, complete with adopted dogs (a German shepherd named Bella) and joint appearances at charity galas. They split briefly in 2010, got back together, then called it quits for good in August 2011. “It just ran its course,” a source told People. Kelly later married and divorced actor Josh Duhamel.
7. Scarlett Johansson (2004 overlap) & 8. Jessica Alba (2004 overlap) Yes, both. In the same calendar year. Johansson was linked to Jeter after they were spotted dining at The Ritz-Carlton in 2004; Alba was photographed leaving his Trump World Tower apartment weeks later. Neither relationship lasted longer than a few months, but the tabloids had a field day. Alba laughed it off years later on Ellen: “I was 23. He was… Derek Jeter. It was New York.”
9. Hannah Davis (2012–2016) The grand slam. Jeter met the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model in 2012 when she was 22 and he was 38, winding down his legendary career. They kept it quiet at first no red carpets, no gossip columns. “I wasn’t looking,” Jeter told The New York Times in 2017, “and then I found the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.” They got engaged in 2015, married in a 100-guest ceremony in Napa Valley in July 2016, and now have four children: daughters Bella Raine (2017), Story Grey (2019), River Rose (2021), and son Kaius Green (2023).
The Captain’s final stat line in the dating game? Zero public scandals, zero tell-all books, zero confirmed “gift baskets.” In an era when every athlete’s DMs leak, Jeter’s privacy remained as lockdown as his defense at short (260 errors in 2,747 games a .976 career fielding percentage that still ranks among the best ever).
“Derek always said, ‘If you don’t give them anything, they can’t write anything,’” former teammate Jorge Posada revealed in the 2022 ESPN documentary The Captain. “He lived it.”
From Carey to Johansson to the runway queens in between, Jeter dated like he played smooth, efficient, and always one step ahead of the throw. But when Hannah walked in, the bachelor era ended with the same quiet finality as his flip play to nail Jeremy Giambi in the 2001 ALDS.
Game over. Ring secured this time, the kind that lasts a lifetime.
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