Before Katherine Webb made college football broadcaster Brent Musburger and the rest of America drool on live TV, there was the one and only Jennifer Sterger.
Sterger is best known as the "Brett Favre Girl" after the Hall-of-Fame and Super Bowl-winning quarterback came under fire for allegedly sending her lewd pictures, but she first gained national attention when Musburger singled her out of the crowd during a Florida State Seminoles football broadcast in 2005.
Sterger has proved she's much more than a cowboy hat, skimpy bikini and tight denim shorts since her college days. She launched a media career that included stops at Sports Illustrated and ABC and even stripped down naked for Playboy and Maxim.
While Sterger's name is long out of the national spotlight, especially in NFL circles, she is still one of the most notable women in sports media over the last 20 years. Where is Jenn Sterger now?
Who is Jenn Sterger?
Photo by Bob Rosato /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images
Born in Miami, Sterger went to Gaither High School in Tampa before packing up and heading to Florida State University. Along with WWE's Lana and others, Sterger joined a group called the FSU Cowgirls, who were known for wearing as little clothing as possible to FSU football games.
In 2005 during the Florida State-Miami game, announcer Brent Musburger commented on Sterger and the cowgirls when the video panned to them. He said, "1,500 red-blooded Americans just decided to apply to Florida State."
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?Sterger rose to stardom.
The Florida girl posed for Playboy and Maxim. She parlayed the attention into gigs at Sports Illustrated, where she wrote a column, and ABC, where she began broadcasting. Later she'd find herself working for TV channels like Fuel TV and Spike, as well as co-hosting "The Daily Line" on Versus.
It wasn't until she served as the New York Jets' gameday host that Sterger became a household name.
The Brett Favre Scandal
AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis (left), AP Photo/Bill Kostroun (right)
Reports surfaced in 2010 that Sterger was receiving something other than passes from New York Jets quarterback Brett Favre.
When Sterger was a team sideline reporter in 2008, Favre allegedly (according to Deadspin.com) sent her pictures of his penis in text messages and sent voicemails asking her to come to his hotel room. Favre, of course, was married and had gray hair by this time, which made this 10 times worse.
The NFL investigated the matter and Favre was fined $50,000 for "failure to cooperate." The Gunslinger's stint in New York was short-lived, as he played for the Minnesota Vikings the next season.
"A lot of people don't realize I've never met Brett Favre," Sterger told USA Today's For The Win. "I don't know him. I've never met him personally, never shaken his hand, never said hello, never introduced myself. So to this day, a lot of people don't realize I was cyber-bullied. I wasn't his mistress, I wasn't his girlfriend, we had no physical interaction at all, and I think that that's something, to this day, that still shocks people."
"I'm not the Brett Favre girl. I tell people that every chance I get. Including dumb drunks at a bar. People meet me say, 'You're a lot different than I thought you would be.' I say, 'What were you expecting?'"
Regardless, Sterger was then known as the "Brett Favre Girl" despite her having a career before the whole scandal unfolded.
Jenn Sterger Married an MLB Player
Sterger married former Major League Baseball player Cody Decker in 2018.
Sterger, who goes by Jenn Decker on Twitter now, first met the 35-year-old longtime minor leaguer on Twitter after coming across some of his YouTube videos.
Decker, who has spent more than 10 seasons with MLB organizations like the San Diego Padres, New York Mets and Arizona Diamondbacks, admitted he had no idea who Jenn Sterger was at the time.
"She eventually sat me down and took me through the whole thing," Decker told For The Win. "I think she was really worried about my reaction to it. She would just say every few minutes, she would say, 'Listen if you don't believe me, I have all of the documentation.' I said I don't need to see any documentation. I believe you."
Jenn Sterger Now?
In 2012, Sterger had her breast implants removed and moved to Los Angeles to try her hand at acting. She once credited the fake boobs for opening doors for her but said she no longer needed them.
Now, Jenn Sterger is 38. She's married. She also still works in sports media.
Sterger has worked as a backstage interviewer for All Elite Wrestling (AEW), the professional wrestling company founded in 2019 that has been featured on TNT. She and her husband also hostrf the "Swings and Mrs." podcast on Radio.com. More recently she's been performing comedy. You can find her on Twitter @JenniferSterger and Instagram @JenniferSterger.
Jenn Sterger's life changed forever during the 2005 football game, and you've got to give her credit for launching a full-fledged career out of that moment.
Let's also take a moment to acknowledge she doesn't age.
This post was originally published on April 8, 2020.
