Aaron Rodgers Details “Losing Friendships, Family” Over Controversial Views in New Docuseries
Aaron Rodgers is sharing his side of the story.
Eight years after the New York Jets player’s brother, Jordan Rodgers, went on The Bachelorette—which he went on to win and marry JoJo Fletcher—and revealed the football player was estranged from his family, Aaron reflected on the moment in his new Netflix documentary Enigma.
“They go on a bulls--t show and leave two empty chairs,” Aaron reflected of an infamous moment during the hometowns episode of the 2016 season, where his long standing rift with his family first went public. “They all agreed this was like a good thing to do, to leave two empty chairs at a stupid dating show that my brother just went on to get famous—his words, not mine—that he ended up winning.”
At the time, Aaron was dating Olivia Munn and his family—which also includes brother Luke Rodgers and parents Ed Rodgers and Darla Rodgers—later revealed he had not had a significant relationship with them for two years. Still, the former Green Bay Packers player insisted he was not extended an invitation for the televised gathering.
“I was never asked to go,” the 41-year-old noted of the gathering in The Bachelorette episode, though admitting, “Not that I would have gone.”
Shortly after the dinner episode aired, Jordan, now 36, told E! News that the somewhat dramatic moment was necessary, saying he “made a commitment to go on there and be honest with JoJo and make sure that she knew everything.”
As for where the rift between Aaron and his family began? The NFL star alluded to his fame affecting his relationships.
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“When I became real famous, family members said, 'Your life is too big. We need you to be smaller,’” he recalled elsewhere in the documentary, which hit the platform Dec. 17. “‘Be smaller, like, don’t talk about your life.’ It always hurt me because I just feel like, you don’t see me. And so as I found my voice to kind of question things, I also found doing things that, compared to what I grew up in, would be considered an alternative lifestyle.”
And after the estrangement, Aaron realized he was never very close with his family members aside from Jordan.
“It goes back to stuff from high school that kind of made me feel distant,” he added. “Stuff in college, stuff post-college. And I was quiet about it. 'Cause I thought the best way to do it was, just don’t talk about it publicly. And what do they do?”
Keep reading for more of what is revealed about Aaron’s life in the Enigma documentary.
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