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Before Injury Setback, Aaron Rodgers Once Blasted Conspiracy Theorists for Interfering in His Personal Matters Like Vultures

Published 05/25/2023, 8:13 AM EDT

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Aaron Rodgers isn’t known to NFL fans as someone who likes to share. It takes a lot of digging and pricking for Rodgers to finally open up about his personal and private matters. Fans witnessed that this year, as the 4x NFL MVP went on an underground ‘darkness retreat’ to gain mental clarity and refused to share anything more than he wanted about the process. However, another subject in Aaron Rodgers’ life that fans have always wanted to get to the bottom of has been the QB’s estranged relationship with his family. 

Rodgers is the middle son of Edward and Darla Rodgers. His elder brother Luke and younger brother Jordan were both parts of the NFL world briefly, with Jordan playing and Luke part of the analyst’s desk. However, for the past few years, fans haven’t seen anyone from Rodgers’ family at Lambeau or at away fixtures, rooting for him. Rodgers has returned the favor and skipped all major family events since 2016. So what is the beef and what did the Super Bowl XLV MVP have to say about it? 

Aaron Rodgers is sick of the media attention towards his family 

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Things were peachy in the beginning. When Aaron Rodgers won his Lombardi back in 2011 after beating the Steelers, his family was by his side at Arlington Stadium. In 2013, Ed and Darla took a detour from their volunteering work at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin to visit Rodgers on the first day of Packers training camp. His relationship with his siblings was also far from rocky. Aaron and Luke were especially close to each other. “I’m going to have my brothers forever,” Luke told Madison.com in a 2011 interview. 

Fast forward to 2016, and Rodgers’ parents hadn’t spoken to him in ages. Luke told ‘The Bachelorette’ interviewers about how much he missed his brother. Younger brother Jordan, who participated in the reality show, said, “Family things are always tough to address, let alone on a TV show.” 

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Rodgers didn’t want to share either. On the Aubrey Marcus podcast, the present-day NY Jets QB1 slammed the media’s uncalled-for curiosity. “Many people have issues with family and deal with them in their own ways. For me, I’ve always tried to deal with it quietly behind closed doors. That hasn’t always been the case or hasn’t been good enough for a lot of people who want to write about it, or pick it apart, or talk about it,” A-Rod said. So what really happened?

 

Ed Rodgers gave some clues back in a New York Times interview in 2017. 

Did dating Olivia Munn have anything to do with the sour family ties? 

Presumably, it all started when Rodgers started dating Newsroom star Olivia Munn in 2014. Asked about Jordan Rodgers’ appearance on The Bachelorette in 2016, Munn said that Aaron Rodgers hadn’t “really talked with his brother.” 

ALSO READ: Long-Time Rival Calls Out Aaron Rodgers’ Ability to Make Jets a Contender

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In the NY Times interview, Rodgers’ father Ed said that the passer’s parents hadn’t spoken to him for over two years, since a few months after he started dating Munn. As per sources, Rodgers also returned Ed and Darla’s Christmas gifts for Aaron and Olivia during that time. The former Packers No 12 even skipped his grandfather’s funeral in 2016 and his brother Jordan’s wedding ceremony in 2022. 

 

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Currently battling a calf injury, A-Rod could probably use some familial support. Now that he is single and out of the cold surroundings of Wisconsin, can fans expect to see his family at the MetLife stands soon? 

WATCH THIS STORY: Aaron Rodgers’ former teammate grieves the death of 31-year-old NFL star

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Written by:

Soumyapriyo Ganguly

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Soumyapriyo Ganguly is an NFL writer at EssentiallySports. Ganguly (or Rivu, as he is affectionately known) is a sports enthusiast and a comprehensive all-rounder when it comes to dissecting high-profile matchups. He brings his academic background in Economics and Finance to the fore to provide insights into franchise finances and player contracts.
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Edited by:

Abigail Kevichusa