Derek Jeter was the heartthrob of entire America during his younger days. An excellent ballplayer and even a great leader in the ballparks, Jeter ruled an era in Major League Baseball. And thanks to his elite baseball career, the Yankees legend dated quite a few women in his younger days.

A year before Jeter won the 2009 World Series for the New York Yankees, he dated the Titans actress Minka Kelly. Yes! After a brief fling with Rachel Uchitel, Jeter and Kelly dated for almost three years between 2008 and 2011.

But she was not happy in the relationship with Jeter. And the reason was not the Yankees legend. When Kelly was in a relationship with Jeter, her mother died of cancer, and she could not handle the loss of her mother. Her lie was crumbling while being in a relationship with Derek Jeter.

Minka Kelly was having a tough time during her three-year relationship with Derek Jeter

Per a four-year-old report from the New York Post, Minka Kelly’s mother suffered and struggled a lot in her last days. The Titans actress opened up about how her mother faced difficulties doing her work in her older days.

“My mom struggled and suffered a lot,” Kelly said. “Everything she did, she did because she was so beautiful. But as she got older and her looks went away, she didn’t have anything to do. And that’s why I felt like I needed to have something to do with my hands, where it didn’t matter what I looked like.”

Notably, Kelly’s mother died of colon cancer in 2008, and she worked as a stripper.

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Personally, it was a bad phase in Kelly’s life. And because of her mother’s death, she could not continue her relationship with Derek Jeter.

When Derek Jeter won the World Series with the New York Yankees in the 2009 season, she celebrated the victory with her then-boyfriend. It is a pity that the two ended up breaking up with each other in 2011, soon after the release of the HBO documentary “Derek Jeter 3K.”

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Currently, Jeter is the father of three lovely daughters with his model wife, Hannah Jeter. Do you think it was just the wrong timing of the relationship that led to Kelly’s breakup with Jeter?