On Tuesday, the new Aaron Rodgers docuseries called Aaron Rodgers: Enigma premiered on Netflix. And during episode two of the docuseries, Rodgers dove into the longstanding and messy relationship with his family members.
Rodgers has become one of the most polarizing figures in sports for his conspiracy theories and recent inability to accept criticism for his team’s shortcomings. But in episode two of Aaron Rodgers: Enigma, Rodgers showed a vulnerable side of his personality when discussing his strained relationship with his family.
Opening up about his upbringing, Rodgers painted a picture of a teenager who wasn’t heard by his parents, which he pushed back against in high school.
“Somebody has to be wrong and somebody has to be right,” said Rodgers of his relationship with his parents growing up, transcribed by US Weekly. “I just slowly uncoupled from that in high school.”
Rodgers went on to say that he believed his parents viewed him as “soft,” which created the personality he has now.
When it comes to his brother, ESPN college football analyst Jordan Rodgers, Aaron detailed how the two used to be close, but became distant over time through Rodgers’ collegiate career at Cal and into his NFL career.
“It wasn’t like I was super duper close with everybody in the family. I was close with my little brother,” Aaron said of Jordan in episode two of Aaron Rodgers: Enigma, transcribed by the New York Post. “But in actuality, it goes back to stuff from high school that kind of made me feel distant. Stuff in college, stuff post-college.”
One significant factor that has been highly publicized in the past stems from Jordan Rodgers’ time as a contestant and winner of season 12 of The Bachelorette, where he met his now-wife JoJo Fletcher.
Aaron Rodgers and his then-girlfriend Olivia Munn were notably absent from the episode where Fletcher got to meet the Rodgers family, which stirred up controversy. Aaron Rodgers still seemingly has issues with how he was portrayed on the show, detailing that he was never invited to appear at the dinner.
“I thought the best way to do it was just don’t talk about it publicly,” said Rodgers on his strained relationship with his brother. “And what do they do? They go on a bullshit show and leave two empty chairs. They all agreed this was 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. But a dinner that was during the season, I was never asked to go to. Not that I would’ve gone.”
Whether you love or hate Rodgers, it is at least somewhat commendable of him to open up about his life publicly in this setting and talk about some of his emotions with his estranged family.
While it sure doesn’t seem like Rodgers’ issues with his family members are water under the bridge just yet, he did detail in the docuseries that he doesn’t wish ill on his family members and that there is hope for “reconciliation” one day.
“People ask me, ‘Is there hope for reconciliation?’ I say, ‘Yeah of course. Of course.’ I don’t want them to fail, to struggle, to have any strife or issues. I don’t wish any ill will on them at all. It’s more like this — we’re just different steps on a timeline of our own journeys.”