For the past couple of years, Robert Griffin III and his wife Grete have made Texas their home, bringing with them a family rooted in football, fitness, fashion, and faith. 

Fitting, as the former Heisman winner and Baylor alum once roamed fields of Texas, causing quite the stir from Fort Hood to Waco.

Recently, Texas Lifestyle Magazine sent two Marines—a writer and a photographer—on the mission of a lifetime: To sit down with the Griffins, all five of them, at the Houston CityPlace Marriott for an exclusive portrait and interview session. With their adorable kids running through the room, brimming with excitement, Grete and Robert talked lessons in parenthood and faith, Texas tradition and values, and what it means to serve.

You’re a family of fashion, fitness, and football. How did y’all meet?

RG3: Good old-fashioned slid in the DMs on Instagram! Both of us were going through heartbreak. And, a lot of people see her outer beauty. But for me, it was just having the opportunity to get to know her as a person. So, I slid in the DMs, shot my shot, and went in. And from that point on, it was just magic. What would you say?

Grete: Spot on.

It’s a good thing you didn’t ignore that message, right?

Grete: I didn’t even know, honestly, who Robert was when he slid in the DMs. I had to ask one of my teammates in college. I was like, “Who is this dude?” And he looks at me and says, “You don’t know who RG3 is?” And I’m like, by the time I moved to America, he was already in the league. So I never even knew that Baylor University existed. The first time I heard of Baylor University was when I saw chrome helmets on TV at Buffalo Wild Wings. And I’m like, oh, those are cool. What school is that? And they’re like, that’s Baylor! And I’m like, oh, I’ve never heard of that school.

RG3: Oh boy.

Grete: Sorry, baby.

RG3: I mean, they were back-to-back Big 12 champs!

Your podcast is “Outta Pocket with RG3 and Grete.” What’s it been like just partnering on this one together?

RG3: For me, it was more about one: she knows ball. She’s a great athlete in track and field, but growing up in Estonia, she did a lot of different sports and follows them. So that was easy for me to have a co-host. It was like, “Why would I pick someone else to co-host with when the person I’m in the house with is just as much of a fanatic as I am and knows it?” But also, when I got let go at ESPN, we sat down and talked about it. And it was like, if I’m going to do this, I’m going to keep doing this. There’s no other person I’d rather do it with than my wife. 

It’s been a fun journey ever since then. And the podcast has really blown up since I left ESPN that year. We had some of the biggest guests in the world–-from Deion Sanders to Shiloh and Shedeur, Dana White,  Seth Freaking Rollins, Demetrius Johnson, and Dustin Poirier. I mean, you name it, we’ve had some of the biggest people in the world on our podcast. So it’s been a lot of fun. Absolutely.

Grete: Yeah, I agree. I don’t think anybody else could have ever gotten me to do a podcast besides Robert. I was the person who was the first to say, “My God, everybody has a podcast.” Like that year we started, everybody was coming out with podcasts. And I was fully a podcast hater. But that’s the thing. When Robert said, “Hey, you want to do it together?” I said, “OK, let’s try it out.” And we had so much fun, because at first the only things we did were guest interviews. Like, now we’re also getting into just talking to ourselves, talking about the games that are happening. But the guest interviews in the beginning were so much fun. This could actually turn into something. And as Robert said, we were getting such big guests that it was like we started off with a bang. Our first guest ever was Deion Sanders. So where do you go from there? It’s been really fun.

What’s been some favorite experiences from the podcast?

RG3: I would say for me, it’s getting to know the people. Getting to know the story behind Seth Freaking Rollins. You know, he and Becky Lynch, his wife, are gonna be on the podcast together at some point. And every podcast is different. Even if you go into it with the framework of ‘this is what we want to talk about today.’ And then you start talking to Dion, and it’s like, he gave us this line about a fan, because it was when Paul Feinbaum was saying, “Colorado is irrelevant.” And Dion, on the spot, came up with a saying, “The fan only blows when you’re hot.” I was like, oh, Lord, that’s good.

That’s the bar, Dion’s episode. He was preaching a little bit. And he was supporting us at that time of being let go and having all that uncertainty. And then when we talked to Dustin Poirier. Here’s this guy who’s a legend in the octagon. And he’s talking to us about how much his wife means to him and how she’s helped him get through his career. And when he was in detention centers and really in trouble, she was the only one who was supporting him. So, I think for us, podcasting always has to be a purpose. And we want you to feel something when you walk out of our podcast. Whether you’re learning more about football, learning more about all the other sports, or learning a little bit more about the guest. I think that’s why we continue to do it. A lot of people don’t. We’ve been podcasting together for two years now. Three years total for the podcast. And most people don’t even make it past year one, because it can be difficult. But if you’re in it for the right reasons, and ours is to tell people’s stories the right way, honor God with what we’re doing, and be not afraid to throw ourselves into the lion’s den and have those conversations. That’s what I love most about it.

Grete: Dion was probably my overall favorite, just because everything he said was so inspirational and motivational. I left the interview, and was like, I can take over the world. But I also loved Reggie Bush’s interview. That was like two and a half hours.

RG3: That’s the longest one we’ve ever done.

Grete: It was the longest one we’ve ever done, but the conversation was so good that we couldn’t stop. Like, everything this man has gone through. . .everything’s gotten taken away from him. Everybody he’s had to sue. His story was so great. So that was probably one of my favorite episodes also.

RG3: I’d also say our funniest was by far Shiloh and Shedeur. The two brothers were absolutely gold. And then my favorite, the recent one has been our interview with Inter Milan’s head coach, Christian Chivu. He’s a huge NFL fan. The World Cup’s coming up, and obviously, Inter Milan is one of the biggest teams in the world. So to get that interview and have the conversation that we had with him was interesting.

Grete: That was our first international guest.

RG3: Yeah, it was great. It was really cool. We got to ask the questions that the fans at home want to know like, “Why do soccer players fake injuries? What if Ronaldo came to America?”. You have those moments. That’s something you don’t find in broadcast television, which is where I’m at most of the time. But in the podcast, you get to really get into those things.

What does coming back to Texas mean for the family?

RG3: This is where I’m from, but I was not born in Texas. I was born in Japan on a military base because my parents served in the military; 34 years combined between my mom and dad. So, coming back to Texas—we’ve been here now for two years—it was about being closer to family and being able to impact the community that I grew up in. I didn’t grow up in Houston, but Copperas Cove, Texas. I can’t go back to live in Copperas Cove because I’d have to drive two and a half or three hours to get to an airport, unless I was flying private. I’d rather give my kids a great education and do a lot more other things than fly private all the time. But back to Texas.

We set up a football organization through our foundation, RGIII Foundation. We won our first tournament this past weekend with Shock Doctor. Just being able to give back to the athletes and the community here, help with food insecurity, that’s something that was really important for us to do–and to have our home base in the state where I grew up. Grete grew up in Estonia, and we go back and do stuff there as well, but I think that was the main reason we wanted to come back.

Grete: Yeah, I loved it. I fought hard against it. I did. I loved Florida. I went to school in Florida. We stayed in Florida for seven years in all. We built our dream home in Florida. Coming over from Europe, you never say, “I want to move to Texas.” You want to go to either Florida or California. So Texas was never something that I thought we would even entertain, but Robert brought it up. He wanted to move to Texas. And honestly, it’s probably been one of the better decisions that we have made for our family. Our kids love the school. They have made some of their best friends. I have made some of my best friends here, and Texas people are so nice. Southern hospitality is a real thing. The kids are all so polite, our football team is so polite. I’m like, “Where do you learn these manners from?” It’s been really nice, and the school our kids go to is phenomenal. And we’ve had a really nice experience here.

RG3: I’m trying to tell her everything’s better in Texas.

Grete: Well, I found my husband here, so I can tell.

RG3: Texas is great. And I’m glad that she’s been able to see that and really enjoy everything this state has to offer.

Would you call yourself a Texan now?

RG3: Oooo haha!

Grete: That’s tough. That’s tough. I don’t wear a cowboy hat or cowboy boots yet, but maybe I’ll get them one day.

RG3: See, that was her thing. She thought she was going to come to Texas, and everyone was going to be riding horses down the highway with cowboy hats and boots.

Grete: I thought of every stereotype you could think of. I’m like, “We’re going to move to Texas. I’m going to have to listen to country music, wear a cowboy hat, wear cowboy boots, and ride a horse.”

RG3: “They’re going to be roping a steer in the middle of the road.” I mean, Texas certainly has that. I grew up in Copperas Cove, a small town outside Fort Hood, which is now Fort Cavazos. But Texas has everything. It has suburbs, it has high rises, it has the country–-and that’s what makes it such a great state.

Grete, you’re a mom, an entrepreneur, a fashion, fitness, and a professional athlete. What do you never compromise on?

Grete: Taking care of myself. I feel you can’t pour from a cup that’s half full. I can’t take care of my family if I don’t take care of myself. So that’s why I prioritize fitness so much: I’m a better mom, a better wife, a better person when I take care of myself. And I feel that it probably goes for everybody. If you’re happy with yourself, you probably give off way better energy than if you’re not. I feel like moms, in a lot of cases, use being a mom kind of as an excuse instead of motivation. With my kids, I normally have the view that I’m doing this for you, instead of I can’t do this because I have you.

Robert, you’re officially outnumbered at home. What’s the best part about being a dad of four daughters?

RG3: Every day, no matter what happens in the world—we all know the world can be a really vicious place, it’s super competitive, very cutthroat—I’m Daddy. When I come home and I open that door, or when they come home from school, or when I drop them off at school and pick them up from school, I’m Daddy. 

You know, I haven’t given up on having a son yet. She’s 99.9% done having kids. But I’m very happy being a girl dad. I think that if you asked me 10 years ago, I would have said to you that 100% I have to have a son. But I think when you have daughters, it impacts you in such a profound way that you realize you have what you need. I’ve heard a lot of people say that sons will love you, but they’ll leave you, and daughters stay with you forever. I’ve experienced that in just the way that they love, in all four of our daughters: 10-year-old Reese, 8-year-old Gloria, 6-year-old Gameya, and now our three-year-old Gia. They are everything to us, and I’m just happy to be their dad.

What have your daughters taught you about yourself?

RG3: Wow. That I am very patient. She would say the same. I’m very, very…

Grete: He’s so patient. I’m sitting there in awe. I’m like, wow, the patience this man has is crazy.

RG3: Very patient. When you’re a child, your parents are like, “Oh yeah, wait till you have your own kids.” Then you realize, for the most part, that they’re correct. We’ve sat there and built cribs and built all the stuff. My dad will purposely buy things that I have to build just so I have to go through what he had to go through–-figuring out how to build it yourself, getting the right tools, and doing all this stuff. It’s a labor of love. 

I think when it comes to teaching them new things–-school, sports, how to be respectful, all those things–-they’ve taught me that I have more patience than I ever thought I would. We’re in this world where we want things now, right? We want the accolades now; we want the success now. But with kids, it’s a 30-year process. You have to be patient. You teach them things when they’re five, then you have to teach them those same things when they’re 15. I think they’ve shown Grete and me just how patient we have to be while also still holding them to a standard. And honestly, it’s been so much fun.

Grete: I think they have taught both of us the things that we wanted to take from our own families and the things we want to be so much better at than what we got growing up. And we both come from great families. We are super close with our parents, but as a parent now, you kind of realize, I really like that my parents did this, or I really don’t like that my parents did that. So, it’s sitting down and figuring out with your partner, “How did you both grow up?” 

We have so much to figure out, because we come from different countries. We’re different colors. We speak different languages. You couldn’t name another difference to add to it. So it’s been, honestly, a fun process to see what my vision of raising kids is, what Robert’s vision of raising kids is. And how he was raised. How I was raised. And just trying to meld this all together and see what sticks and what works. 

I think my favorite part has probably been what it’s taught me about myself. Parenting doesn’t come with a handbook. It’s just daily trying to figure out how to be a parent, because no one’s going to tell you this is the right way to do it. Now there are life coaches who will tell you, “I’m going to teach you how to parent.” But this is your first time living. How do you know that?

RG3: I think I’ve got one, for you, not for me. I think it taught you what your actual dream is. Tell them what you thought your dream was versus what your dream became.

Grete: My dream, since I was in 5th grade, I told my coach I wanted to go to the Olympics. I wanted to be an Olympic athlete. I never had a plan B. This was my plan A, and I was going to get it. And then Robert blames himself for getting me pregnant the year of the Olympics. It wasn’t his fault at all.

But once I had my first one, Gloria, it’s so crazy how your dream can just change overnight. I still came back after Gloria and tried to chase the dream. I still came back after Gameya and tried to chase the dream. But after Gameya, I almost felt guilty for chasing my dream because it felt like I was letting my kids down, even though I’m more than sure I wasn’t. But I felt like I had to. I was putting myself first when I was supposed to put my kids first. And I was supposed to focus on their dream, even though they were babies. But the dream changed so quickly, because it was replaced with something so much better. I can only imagine that if I had to just retire from track, didn’t make it, that would have probably been a huge letdown. But it was replaced with being a mom, something so much greater. So the dream literally changed overnight. I couldn’t care less about going to the Olympics anymore.

What value is the most important to y’all for raising strong, confident daughters?

RG3: I think what you just said there–-teaching them self-confidence. I’m a big believer that when you go to school, if you’re the one who’s raising your hand in class because you want to answer the question, some people in class say, “Oh, look, it’s the teacher’s pet.” But that’s a confidence thing, in my opinion. You’re confident that you can answer that question. When you go to PE, and they say, “Alright, who knows how to dribble a basketball?”, and you raise your hand. That’s a confidence thing. It’s a leadership thing. So we teach them the skills that they need not to just go be the greatest basketball player or tennis player or soccer player or football player or whatever, but so that when they go to school, and they’re in their element, and they’re in their environment, they walk into that with confidence. I think more parents should take the time to teach their kids the skills, rather than rely on the school system, PE coach, or whatever to teach them those things. They’ll be more confident. I think that’s number one for all kids, especially young girls: if they’re confident, they can do anything.

Grete: I think for girls, it starts with the dad in the house. I feel like if the dad and the mom pour you over with love in the house, then when you step outside and anybody mistreats you, you’ll know that’s not how you’re supposed to be treated. That’s not right. If at home you get so much love, you will immediately know what is not love. You will immediately know what mistreatment is.

Rob is doing such a good job at telling our kids, 97 times a day, how much he loves them and how beautiful they are. And he asks every morning, who’s the best, who’s the greatest, who’s the strongest, who’s the smartest? He has such a nice routine built up with the girls that it feels like there is no way they would let anybody mistreat them in the world because Robert’s killing it as a girl dad. So, kudos to you.

RG3: Appreciate that. They’ve got a great example of what it means to be a strong woman who takes care of her home, makes it a home, and is also ambitious. I think that a lot of people confuse that. They think you can only be a strong woman if you don’t need a man. But you can be a strong woman and still make your house a home. I think that’s what she does best, and that’s a good example for them. 

The only thing she’s not saying is that we both firmly believe that how the husband treats the wife impacts the daughter. If they see in the home that dad is mistreating mom, that does damage to them. But if dad is treating mom right, then they know what it looks like. And I think both of us do our dangest to make sure our kids see it done the right way, so they know what their future is going to be like.

You want to give to your kids more than what you have. That’s how my parents grew up in the projects in New Orleans, Louisiana. My dad did. My mom didn’t grow up well-to-do either. She [Grete] didn’t grow up well-to-do early on in her life as well. Her dad ended up pulling them up by the bootstraps and giving them a life that was greater than the life that he had. That’s what we want for them. We want them to have a greater life than what we had. And I think every parent should try to do that.

Behind the scenes with Cameron Pitts and the Griffins. Video Martin Ramirez.

I like that you’re wearing a cowboy hat, and I hear you’ve got a good cowboy hat collection. How has the rest of the family embraced these Texas roots?

RG3: Yeah, the girls love the hats. They love stealing the cowboy hats and then throwing them on. Believe it or not, even though I’m a Texan, I didn’t have my first pair of cowboy boots until this year. I got them as a gift, so I decided not to wear them today. I think being a Texan is much more than being a cowboy. But I think that we all have a little cowboy in us, you know? I think that whether you’re a rebel, whether you’re fighting against the system, fighting for what you believe in, I think that’s what a cowboy represents. 

When you see a cowboy in the westerns, and they’re in a quick draw, it’s never just like, “Hey, that’s a normal guy.” When you throw on that cowboy hat, and you throw on what it means to be a Texan, like you said, everything is bigger. And the family is certainly buying into that. Everything here is more competitive. Sports are more competitive. Our daughters love football. Football in Texas is king. We know that. And I just think it’s been a great experience. It’s been the best, like Greta said. It’s been the best thing moving from Florida to here because in Florida, we were giving back to the community, but was that our community? When she goes to Estonia, it’s not like she goes to Latvia and she’s throwing camps in Latvia. We’ll throw some camps in Latvia, don’t get me wrong. But when she goes to Estonia and we go back to a school, and we can teach them football, and she does a Glow Fitness training session with the kids in the community–-you feel more of a sense of belonging. Being back here in Texas, Houston has a lot of Baylor grads, a lot of Baylor alumni; and there are issues around the city that we know we can help with. It just feels like we’re a part of something that is more genuine to who we are and where we’re from.

Are there any favorite barbecue spots, parks, kolaches, or other quintessential things in Texas?

Grete: I am not a full-on Texas eater, but I love the variety of Houston’s restaurants. We have found so many good places in Houston to just go out for a date night and leave the kids home.

RG3: What’s your favorite restaurant?

Grete: Toca Madera. It’s in Houston, probably about a 45-minute drive, but the vibe, the ambiance, just the whole thing there is amazing. They bring the meat to you tableside, and they light it up. It’s an experience. It’s not just like a regular dinner. When we do go out, I love finding places in Houston. So normally, we do drive all the way to Houston and go find something over there. The Houston restaurant scene is incredible.

RG3: Yeah, it’s great. Toca Madera is not necessarily a “Texas restaurant,” but my favorite, obviously, the BBQ. That’s the thing people don’t realize. There’s like eight different variations of Texas BBQ. There’s East, West, North-South, Northeast, Southwest…All different types of BBQ that you could possibly imagine. We love it all. We do like to eat, but because we work out so much, it makes it easier for us not to put on the pounds with all the eating. 

There’s also Pappadeaux.

Grete: Robert loves Pappadeaux!

RG3: Pappadeaux, holla at your boy.

Grete: Robert is obsessed.

RG3: I’m getting that catfish every time! Also, there’s the mom-and-pop spots that we go to when we go back to Waco to visit Baylor.

You brought up Baylor. What are some of the values you learned as a student athlete at Baylor?

RG3: I think the main thing I learned at Baylor was that there’s always a purpose for what you’re going through and the adversity that you’re facing in life. You hear a lot of people say it’s all about how you respond. Baylor is where I found my faith in Christ because I grew up in a church, started going to church when I was six years old because of my parents. I went to children’s church because of my parents. I joined the choir because of my parents. I went to church at Christian House of Prayer, CHOP as we call it, and one church in two locations, Copperas Cove, Texas, and Killeen, Texas. And I got to see CHOP go from like a mom-and-pop shop to a mega church. And Bishop Nate Holcomb was my bishop. And I love CHOP. I still love CHOP to this day. Bishop Nate Holcomb passed away a few years ago. 

But when I went to college, I was by myself. So, at Baylor, you go to chapel. People don’t know you have to go to chapel when you go to Baylor. But I got hurt in 2009 on the football field. And that was the first time in my life that I had to really make a decision for myself. And I questioned everything, because I felt like I had done everything right to that point. I was stretching. I was cold tubing. I was doing my homework. I was a 4.0 student. And I tore my ACL. I’m like, why would God allow this to happen to me? So, for me, it was in that two-week period that I made a decision that I’m going to follow God for me. Not because my parents said so, not because Bishop Nate Holcomb said so, not because that’s what I’m used to and it’s comfortable. And every time something happens and I’m like, why would this happen? I’m going to find the silver lining and see what God is trying to teach me or show me to get me ready to take that next step. So, when I got hurt, everybody thought my career was over. Two years later, I won the Heisman. Then I got to go to the NFL, second pick in the draft, win Rookie of the Year, and get hurt. Everybody thinks my career is over. I was able to stretch out my career to 8 years when most guys in my situation with the injuries that I had wouldn’t have made it past three. I think the biggest thing that Baylor taught me was how to fight. How to fight the good fight, how to fight your way through adversity and get to the next level. That’s what I think Baylor taught me the most. Absolutely.

Do y’all have a church you go to now?

RG3: We don’t have a church. We don’t have a church home here in Houston. We’ve been to the mega church of all mega churches—you know, Joel Osteen’s. We’ve been to Gateway a few times. We’ve been to Woodlands Church a bunch of times. We haven’t adopted a church home because I’m usually busy on Saturdays and Sundays because of my job. So it makes it difficult for us to go. And when we’re all in on something, we want to be all in. So, all the lead pastors out there, understand that we are looking for a church home and we would love to allow our kids to grow up in the church and do it that way.

You’re the son of two Army veterans. You’ve been a great integral part within the military community. How does the return to Texas impact your involvement with the military community?

RG3: It’s everything. Her dad served in the military. We’re no strangers to military life, the stories, the discipline that it takes to be in the military. I’ve done everything with my family, whether it’s what we did with Chip and Joanna Gaines, renovating the home for the military family on Fixer Upper, to doing things through TAPS to help military families who lose a loved on, and trying to bring some joy into their lives. I work with wounded warriors through the Wounded Warrior Project. I hosted their event for the last three years. I never want a military kid to feel like they’re forgotten. And I never want a military vet to feel like their sacrifices have gone unnoticed, because I do think, especially in the long war times, military veterans get forgotten, and people forget where their freedoms come from. So that’s something that both Grete and I work extremely hard at, to give back as much as we possibly can. Even right now, I’m in talks to travel back over to Japan and do football camps in Japan, Korea, around the world, and then back here in the States to travel around to throw free football camps for the military, just so the kids and the parents feel like they’re seen. And I think that’s an important part of it. When you risk your life, when you put your life on the line for my freedoms, for my wife and my kids’ freedoms, before your own family—I think that’s something that should be rewarded in a bigger way than just thanks. I think more people need to hear that. All military veterans out there that are going to read the words that you guys write–just want them to know that we appreciate it.

Follow RG3 and Grete on socials. Catch their podcast here.

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Cover Photo Cameron Pitts

Martin Ramirez is a brisket-eating, Shiner-loving, road-tripping enthusiast of all things Texas. This Dallas-born writer / adventurer is ready to take his ‘78 El Camino to find the best in food, fun, and fitness throughout the Lone Star State.