Brooklyn Adams opens up about 10-year romance with Detroit Lions’ Amon-Ra St. Brown

The world first learned about Brooklyn Adams in July 2024 on Netflix’s Receivers, which chronicled the lives of some of the NFL’s best wide receivers, including her longtime boyfriend, Amon-Ra St. Brown.

When the cameras were rolling, she was in nursing school and in a long-distance relationship with the Detroit Lions star, but a lot has changed since then.

The 26-year-old influencer will graduate from nursing school in August 2024, and soon after, the high school sweethearts bought a house in Michigan and ended their long-distance relationship, Adams exclusively tells PEOPLE.

“We bought a house and were both ready to start our life together. He was so focused on football and I was focused on nursing school, so we decided we wanted to put our relationship on hold and finally do something together,” says Adams.

Stepping away from textbooks, she took time to think hard about what she really wanted to do. With the help of her partner of nearly 10 years, they founded the St. Brown Foundation.

“I sat down with Amon-Ra and decided we were in a great space with so many opportunities. We are so grateful for our lives,” she explains. “For us, it was more about how we can give back. We are a nonprofit organization that started building a foundation in education. That’s where my nursing goals and nursing career transitioned.”

“I knew I wanted to work in a hospital, but it led me down a different path,” she continues. “I couldn’t be happier. We are a nonprofit organization focused on children in education and providing them with better opportunities and education.”

Adams is the president of the St. Brown Foundation, which focuses on youth literacy in Michigan.

“We focus on literacy to improve literacy rates because the literacy rate in the United States, especially in Michigan, is very low,” she explains. “We started this foundation with the idea that Amon-Ra and I have always had great opportunities in education. Our parents have done a great job of giving us those opportunities. When we looked back at what we were given, we realized that very few people have it. We wanted to give back and make sure our children get it.”

Adams, who has now settled in Michigan, said working for the foundation “allows me to be more involved in the community.”

“Now that we’re here and involved, we love it here. We love the people and the culture,” she says. “Honestly, of all the places we could have ended up, we’re both happy to be in Michigan.”

Although most people see her as just a “WAG,” she tells people that she “doesn’t like to be pigeonholed into anything” that is too one-dimensional.

“We are more than wives and girlfriends of athletes,” she emphasizes. “I have a name. If you get to know me, you’ll realize I’m more than just a girlfriend.”

Adams recently worked with Abercrombie on a campaign highlighting what it means to be “In Her Own League,” where she reclassified “WAGS” as “women who achieve greatness and success.”

“I like that they put a twist on it. I don’t like the WAG title,” she shares. “I have nothing against people who like it. It’s cute when girls put their own spin on it. But to be given a title like that, I’m not a fan.”

“I have a lot of girlfriends and wives who do a lot of things. Some women work full time, and some women are mothers,” she continues. “There are a lot of women who do a lot behind the scenes but don’t get enough attention. It’s discrediting to be put in this category.”

She points out that dating a professional athlete is “not easy.” During the season, partners often end up in cities far away from family and friends while traveling almost every other week.

“I try to explain that players are always gone. A lot of people don’t understand that this can be a really lonely lifestyle,” she says. “We do a lot and put up with a lot. Yes, we know what we signed up for. I’m never going to complain, but we do more than we’re given credit for.”

What’s important about the dynamic between her and St. Brown is that they are both “very supportive of each other.”

“We’re always in each other’s corner, always rooting for each other. We do little things that give us a sense of normalcy and remind us outside of football, that you and we are one.”

St. Brown supports Adams’ career and Adams is equally devoted to him. Especially on game days, she often helps him pick out clothes and cooks him pre-game meals.

“I make all the home games, depending on when breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served,” she says. “This is my way of saying, ‘I love you, good luck, come kill me.’ I try to feed him good home-cooked meals.”

To prepare for game day, Adams says she doesn’t have any superstitions. She helps get St. Brown ready, sends St. Brown off, and often heads to the stadium with the wives and girlfriends of the players on the team.

“Eight times out of 10, I go to a bar downtown before the game. I get to the stadium about an hour and a half early, head to the field, and meet Amon-Ra one more time before the game,” she said. “A little good luck kiss, a few pictures, and then game time begins.”

Although he enjoys it before the game, Adams says he is “always stressed” during the game.

“I’m very confident in my team, but I’m always stressed out,” she tells PEOPLE. “It’s stressful during games. I’m always focused. I’m always alert. I rarely get up except to eat.”

“I’m a stressed-out person. I’m always stuck at home during games. I always have a stomach ache,” she continues. “I’m always stressed out. Game days are stressful. I hardly eat before the game, and I can’t eat. When the game starts, I’m so stressed out that I binge.”

Despite the stress, Adams found a core group of people within the organization that she trusted.

St. Brown has been with the Lions since being drafted into the NFL in 2021. Four years later, Adams praised the kindness of the staff and fans, saying they have both settled into the organization.

“The whole organization is really great,” she says.

“The coaches, the staff, all the coaches’ wives and staff wives, the players’ wives and girlfriends, the whole community. We’re a close-knit organization,” she says. “By the second or third year, I felt settled. Amon-Ra would say the same.”

“We are both very happy to be part of such a great organization that truly cares about its players and their loved ones. The fans are the greatest in the entire world.”

For Adams, balancing her own career with supporting St. Brown’s is “difficult.” She’s still “trying to figure it out,” but their nearly 10-year relationship is built on a solid foundation, and she knows he’ll “support” her no matter what direction life takes.

“He always pushes me. He was raised with that mindset,” she says. “His parents always pushed him to be great and never give up. That’s Amon-Ra’s character. If I want to do something, he’ll support it 100 percent. He never shuts anything out. We’re both strangers. We support each other in everything.”