Aaron Rodgers knows he’s “kind of an enigma.” Now the private star is letting people in like never before in his new Netflix docuseries. The appropriate title Aaron Rodgers: Enigma follows the New York Jets quarterback as he recovers from last year’s Achilles tendonitis. In the three-part series he talks about his life on and off the field.
“No one really knew what was going on with me off the field, what I believed,” Rodgers began. “Thanks to the work I did on myself, I felt much better about myself. But I think it’s a constant struggle to work on my communication off the field.”
Rodgers knows he’s been cast as a villain “especially in recent years.”
“There were certainly times when it was part of the struggle to be able to fight back… but it was heartbreaking when my reputation took a hit,” he said.
“Who am I? Am I the football player, am I the man off the field?” Rodgers asked. “I really used to think I could separate the two, but I can’t. And that’s something I’ve struggled with for many, many years.”
Fans will now hear directly from Rodgers about several personal matters. That includes everything from his family rift being made public The bachelorette to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who asked him to be his running mate.
Here are some of the biggest revelations off the field.
Rodgers talks about family drama… and phone calls The bachelorette ‘nonsense’
“When I became really famous… I heard from a lot of people, including family members, that it was, ‘Your life is too big, we need you to be smaller. Be smaller. Don’t talk about your life.’ ‘It always hurt me because I felt like you didn’t see me,’ Rodgers recalls.[Fame] isn’t something I’ve ever wanted or wanted other than playing on Sundays.”
Life changed for the athlete after he won the Super Bowl in 2011.
“The relationships definitely changed after that. Friendships, family. It wasn’t like I was super close with everyone in the family. I was close with my little brother,” Rodgers said, referring to younger brother Jordan. “But really it goes back to things from high school that made me feel distant. Things in college, things after college.”
Jordan Rodgers exposed the rift within the family in 2016 when he took part in JoJo Fletcher’s season The bachelorette.
“I was quiet about it because I thought the best way to do it was just not to talk about it publicly. And what did they do? They go on a crap show and leave two empty seats,” Rodgers continued.
The athlete is referring to the infamous scene during hometown dates when Fletcher went to Chico, California, to meet Jordan’s parents, eldest brother Luke and Luke’s girlfriend. Notably absent were Rodgers and his then-girlfriend, Olivia Munn.
“They all agreed that this was a good thing? To leave two empty seats at a stupid dating show that made my brother famous – his words not mine – and which he ended up winning,” Rodgers continued. He said the dinner took place during the NFL season, which would have made it nearly impossible for the then-Green Bay Packers quarterback to attend.
“I was never asked to go,” Rodgers said, “not that I would have gone.”
Rodgers is usually silent about famous relationships
The athlete made it clear he doesn’t think fame is something that comes with his job, but admitted he hasn’t done himself any “favor” with the women he’s dated.
“I enjoyed my personal life, but winning the Super Bowl changed everything,” he said.
“I had never had any paparazzi until I went to Hawaii in 2011, and there were all these pictures of me in the water rubbing sand on myself and exfoliating my skin,” he added. “I thought, ‘F***, life is different now.'”
“Now I didn’t please myself with some of the girls I dated after that who were in the public eye,” Rodgers admitted. ‘At first I absolutely hated it. I really despised it.”
Images of Rodgers with his famous exes, including Munn, Danica Patrick and ex-fiancée Shailene Woodley, flashed on the screen. However, he did not speak to any of the women.
Yes, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asked Rodgers to be his running mate
In the second episode, Rodgers and Kennedy are filmed taking a walk together in early 2024.
“Have you thought about going into politics?” Kennedy asked Rodgers.
“I got into politics when I was a sophomore in high school,” Rodgers responded, explaining that he became particularly interested in the subject after hearing about the death of President John F. Kennedy.
“Honestly, your uncle’s death … was my first attempt at pulling back the veil, as I call it,” Rodgers added. “Like what’s actually going on?”
Rodgers referred to the Warren Commission report which concluded that JFK was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, who acted alone.
“This is what they said happened? This can’t be real,” Rodgers told Kennedy. “Then I went to [University of California] Berkeley, which is a crazy political environment. It’s super left-wing and I grew up in a very conservative environment in a small town, so it was nice to have my ideologies tested.”
Rodgers said he is “forever discouraged” by America’s two-party system.
“I really had no hope in politics until you announced your candidacy,” he told Kennedy.
Kennedy asked Rodgers to be his vice president after their walk, the athlete said on camera on February 20. Rodgers wondered whether he should retire and go into politics or play in the league for two or three more years.
“I love football. I want to keep playing, and I hated the way last year went,” said Rodgers, who was still recovering from his Achilles tendon. “There is still some unfinished business in New Jersey.”
Kennedy dropped out of the race in August and endorsed Donald Trump. He is now the president-elect’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
Rodgers briefly addresses the fact that he has been labeled a conspiracy theorist
In March, it was leaked that Rodgers was on Kennedy’s veep shortlist while he was in Costa Rica for an ayahuasca retreat. Images of headlines about his vaccine skepticism flash on the screen. That included reports claiming Rodgers said the Sandy Hook shooting was an “inside job” by the government. (Rodgers denied this in a statement.)
“I’d be a Sandy Hook denier now too?” Rodgers said. “Misrepresentation is definitely a trigger. Trauma, trigger whatever.”
About vaccination gate…
In the latest episode, Rodgers walks through his infamous “Yes, I’m immunized” line that sparked an online firestorm.
“We never got the flu shots growing up; my dad just didn’t believe in them,” Rodgers said. While he may have misled the media with that response, he reiterated that the NFL and the entire Green Bay Packers organization knew he was seeking alternative methods for the COVID-19 vaccination.
“Everyone in my damn circle knew I wasn’t vaccinated; everyone on my team knew I wasn’t vaccinated,” Rodgers said.
His former head coach Matt LaFleur confirmed that in the document: “We knew everyone’s status.”
Although Rodgers won the 2021 NFL MVP award, he admitted some regrets.
‘Of course you would like things to be easier in different aspects sometimes. Not testing positive for COVID, not answering a question better,” Rodgers said. “Having my reputation tested throughout the 2021 season was certainly heartbreaking.”
Religion is partly responsible for the change in family dynamics
After Rodgers won the Super Bowl in 2011, he embarked on another spiritual journey.
“I grew up in a very white, dogmatic church that just didn’t really serve me. Even when I talked to my parents, it was very black or white, like someone had to be wrong, someone had to be right. I just slowly disconnected from that in high school,” Rodgers said, noting that “it was cool” to encounter diverse opinions in college at UC Berkeley.
In 2011, Rodgers began working with spiritual leader Rob Bell. He began to explore other religions and study herbal medicines. However, Rodgers found resistance to “what would be considered an alternative lifestyle.”
“I started to stand up against the institutions of my youth. That was everything from organized religion to my parents, dogma and ideology,” he explained. “That definitely changed the dynamic of my family, because I just questioned everything.”
Elsewhere in the documentary, Rodgers talked about how there was “no room for emotion” growing up, saying he once saw his father cry when his grandfather died. “I definitely had limited emotional intelligence,” he said.
However, Rodgers said he has “love, respect and gratitude for the way I was raised because it wouldn’t have made me who I am today.”
When asked if there is hope for reconciliation with his family, Rodgers said: “Of course.”
“I don’t wish them any ill will at all,” he said. “We are just different steps on the timeline of our own journeys.”
Aaron Rodgers: Enigma is now streaming on Netflix.
