Aaron Rodgers Opened Up About His Strained Family Relationship in New Netflix Doc: Everything He Said

‘Be Smaller’

“There was a lot of times when I became real famous, I heard from a lot of people, including family members, who was like, ‘Your life is too big. We need you to be smaller. Be smaller,’” Aaron said. “Like, ‘Don’t talk about your life.’ And it’s always hurt me because I just feel like you don’t see me. This is not something I ever desired or wanted, other than playing on Sundays.”

Toughen Up

Aaron has endured many injuries throughout his career, including a season-ending Achilles injury sustained in the fourth play of the 2023 season. The New York Jets quarterback claimed his childhood made him tough and forced him to “adapt.”

“I was very fortunate when I was a kid, to have parents who believed I had a very low pain tolerance. There’s some lessons that were hard to learn as a child and you react and adapt to whatever it is,” he said. “I felt like there was many times where my parents felt like I was a little soft, and because of that, I made sure I was the toughest motherf–ker that I knew. Anytime I had some sort of injury, I was gonna make sure I could hold it together as well as I could. I could come back quicker than anybody said I would. So dealing with pain has always been kind of a way of life.” 

‘Bachelorette’ Blunder

Aaron slammed his family for their involvement and portrayal during season 12 of The Bachelorette, as brother Jordan was vying for the heart of now-wife JoJo Fletcher. 

“What did they do? … They go on a bulls–t show and leave two empty chairs. They all agreed that 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,” he said of their 2016 reality TV appearance. “That he ended up winning. But like, a dinner that was during the season, I was never asked to go to. Not that I would’ve gone.”

Issues Started in Childhood

“It wasn’t like I was super duper close with everyone in the family,” he said, adding that he was once close to younger brother Jordan Rodgers. “But in actuality, it goes back to stuff from high school that made me feel different. Stuff from college. Stuff from post college. And I was quiet about it. Because I thought the best way to do it was just don’t talk about it publicly.”

Questioning His Upbringing

“I grew up in a very white, dogmatic church,” Aaron said, adding that it “didn’t really serve” him. “It was very rigid in structure. I’m not a rigid person. … Even talking to my parents it was very black and white. Like, somebody has to be wrong. Somebody has to be right. I just slowly uncoupled from that in high school.”

He went on to say that his time at the University of California, Berkeley, led him to “begin to question more things,” from religion to his family. 

“That definitely changed the dynamics of my family. Because I was just questioning all of it.”

Vaccination Drama

Aaron took a lot of heat during the COVID-19 pandemic for reportedly being unvaccinated. During his documentary the future Hall of Famer claimed his father was strongly against the flu shot growing up. 

“We never did the flu shots growing up. My dad just didn’t believe in it. And didn’t think like a shot that’s notoriously been in the 15 percent range as far as effectiveness and even just picking the right strand of flu that season was worth the unknown ingredients in it. So I was always a little bit skeptical of that,” he said, adding that he ultimately chose not to get vaccinated. “I did a holistic process.”

Possible Reconciliation?

Aaron isn’t shutting the idea of a reconciliation with his family in the future, saying, “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 in the timeline of our own journeys.”

He continued, “You know, they’re living as best they can. That is still engulfed in organized religions. Which works for them, that’s great. So as much as they might not like what they see, love and respect and gratitude for how I was raised, because it wouldn’t have turned me into who I am today.”