Bill Belichick released a lengthy statement on Wednesday, ripping CBS and arguing that girlfriend/publicist Jordon Hudson was merely “doing her job” when she attempted to shut down certain questions during a televised interview with the North Carolina football coach.

Belichick sat down with CBS Sunday Morning’s Tony Dokoupil to promote his new book “The Art of Winning – Lessons from My Life in Football,” with the resulting interview airing this past weekend. The segment turned awkward when Hudson interrupted from off-camera with a terse “we’re not talking about that” when Dokoupil asked the NFL coaching legend how the two — who are 49 years part in age — met.

In addition, TMZ reported Tuesday that Hudson stepped in several other times during the interview, and “stormed off the set” for 30 minutes at one point. According to the report, CBS had scheduled a second interview with Belichick, but canceled after the first went so poorly.

After Hudson posted an email from Belichick on social media Tuesday, Belichick responded with a formal statement through the North Carolina president’s office (and not, it’s worth noting, through the athletic department). In the statement, Belichick also complained that the interview strayed away from “the contents of the book” and into his personal life and his relationship with former Patriots owner Robert Kraft (whom, Dokoupil noted during the interview, is not mentioned at all in the The Art of Winning, even in the acknowledgments section).

Here’s the full statement, via ESPN’s Pete Thamel:

“I agreed to speak with CBS Sunday Morning to promote my new book, ‘The Art of Winning — Lessons from My Life in Football.’ Prior to this interview, I clearly communicated with my publicist at Simon & Schuster that any promotional interviews I participated in would agree to focus solely on the contents of the book.

“Unfortunately, that expectation was not honored during the interview. I was surprised when unrelated topics were introduced, and I repeatedly expressed to the reporter, Tony Dokoupil, and the producers that I preferred to keep the conversation centered on the book. After this occurred several times, Jordon, with whom I share both a personal and professional relationship, stepped in to reiterate that point to help refocus the discussion. She was not deflecting any specific question or topic but simply doing her job to ensure the interview stayed on track. Some of the clips make it appear as though we were avoiding the question of how we met, but we have been open about the fact that Jordon and I met on a flight to Palm Beach in 2021.

“The final eight-minute segment does not reflect the productive 35-minute conversation we had, which covered a wide range of topics related to my career. Instead, it presents selectively edited clips and stills from just a few minutes of the interview to suggest a false narrative — that Jordon was attempting to control the conversation — which is simply not true.”

The 75-year-old Belichick was hired by North Carolina in December despite not having coached in college during his 50-year career in football. He won six Super Bowls during his nearly quarter-century tenure as New England Patriots head coach from 2000-23.