Paulina Gretzky Says She Received Death Threats For Husband's LIV Golf Move

Paulina Gretzky, the daughter of Hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky and wife of two-time major golf champion Dustin Johnson, revealed that she took a break from social media after receiving death threats over her husband's decision to join LIV Golf in 2022.

“People sending death threats and awful, awful, awful things,” Gretzky said during the second season of the Netflix docuseries 'Full Swing.' “People were aggressive that’s for sure. But that’s when I shut it down for a little bit. I was like I don’t need to look at this. Everyone has an opinion on it. Fine.”

Johnson, 39, was announced for the inaugural event of the LIV Golf Invitational Series in 2022, which drew controversy given the newly-launched league's funding by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund. The 4Aces GC captain was reportedly paid $125 million to defect from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf.

Gretzky said that, despite the criticism, she's happier now and not "taking a back seat" to their "old life" on the PGA Tour, citing her husband's lighter schedule as a factor in his decision to join LIV Golf.

“We have a little bit more time together now since things have changed a little, whereas before, it was like, go go go,” Gretzky said. “We have more control now of how we do things. That old life that we had, I had to take a backseat, but now it feels like we’re in the front of the plane together flying. It was the right move.”

In June, the PGA Tour announced its agreement to merge with LIV Golf as part of a "newly formed commercial entity to unify golf" in a news release shared on its official website, though an official agreement wasn't reached prior to a December 31 deadline, which has since been extended as talks continue.