Johnny Manziel And His Ex Colleen Crowley Had A Tumultuous Romance

As he rose through the ranks in the NFL, Johnny Manziel, who was once poised to be one of the league's leading quarterbacks, found himself riddled with one too many controversies, including one with his ex-girlfriend Colleen Crowley. Manziel's antics first sparked concern after TMZ shared controversial photos of him partying in July 2014, just two months after he was drafted into the NFL by the Cleveland Browns. Manziel continued to garner attention as his party-hard lifestyle continued to make headlines. Unsurprisingly, he was released by the Browns after two scandalous seasons — and time was called on his NFL career. 

But while Manziel's party days are well behind him, his personal life has kept him in the news. In 2018, the former NFL star tied the knot with Bre Tiesi in an intimate California ceremony. Sadly, a year later, Tiesi and Manziel announced their split. "This is all very, very personal and very sad. I appreciate everyone who has been so supportive of both of us, and I would just ask that everyone respect our privacy at this difficult time," Manziel said in a statement to TMZ Sports. Manziel has since moved on with model Kenzie Werner, with whom he went public in April 2022. Before Tiesi and Werner, however, Manziel was in another public relationship with Colleen Crowley. Though short-lived, the pair — perhaps unsurprisingly — had a rather tumultuous romance.

Johnny Manziel and Colleen Calway first met after being introduced by mutual friends. At the time, she was only a sophomore at Texas Christian University. "We went to a dinner together [with friends] and just clicked," the model recounted of their first meeting to the New York Post. Given their instant connection, Manziel and Calway soon found themselves entangled in a summer fling. Their whirlwind romance, however, became more serious after Manziel asked Calway to be his girlfriend. "He [said], 'I want you to come up [to Cleveland] every weekend [or] I'll come down there,'" Calway told The Post.

In total, Manziel and Calway were together for 14 months. While this might seem like a short time, it was long enough for the model to witness the athlete's transformation from a sweet, loving boyfriend to an unfaithful partner struggling with substance abuse. Finally, in January 2016, Calway broke up with Manziel, having caught him in a lie two months prior. Despite their attempt to patch things up, their relationship was never the same. She said he broke down in tears, but "it was just fake crying," and she had grown used to seeing it.

Though neither Manziel nor Calway spoke about their split at the time, the model soon came forward with disturbing claims about their time together.

In February 2016, Colleen Crowley filed a police report alleging that Johnny Manziel physically abused her. According to an affidavit obtained by People, the incident occurred after an argument in a hotel room, after which he forced her into his car. When Crowley attempted to flee the vehicle, the NFL star reportedly pulled Crowley by her hair as he threw her back into his car. "Fearful for my life, I hit [him] several times, hoping I could back out of the car. [He] threw me off of him and I hit my head on the car window and I fell into the passenger floorboard," she wrote in her statement. Manziel drove to Crowley's apartment, where the model successfully fled to her next-door neighbor, who promptly called the police. "I heard her screaming, so I came out to the balcony, and she said her boyfriend had beat her up. She didn't want me to call you," the neighbor allegedly told the dispatcher during the 911 call, per People.

Speaking on behalf of her client, Crowley's lawyer, Kathy Kinser, doubled down on the allegations, adding that Manziel ruptured the model's left eardrum. Following Crowley's filing, Manziel was indicted on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge by a Texas jury, according to CNN. Later that year, USA Today reported that prosecutors and Manziel had reached an agreement in the case that spared the athlete from jail time. As part of the deal, Manziel was required to undergo counseling and have his conduct monitored in exchange for the charges being dropped.