I know there are many Cowboy fans out there who are still wishing a pox upon Aaron Rodgers’ house after last Sunday’s defeat. Well, you’re in luck because his family is a mess. Back in July, Aaron’s brother Jordan, then a contestant on The Bachelorette, admitted that he doesn’t speak to big brother Aaron. Aaron refrained from discussing it at the time. However, since Aaron’s dad Ed decided to give a lengthy interview to the New York Times on the subject, Aaron has finally issued a comment. For those of you hoping to find out once and for all why the family has been torn asunder – sorry. Aaron did little more than confirm that they didn’t speak and that he when he dealt with it, it would be in private.
Aaron Rodgers may not be on speaking terms with his family, but the Green Bay Packers quarterback is making an effort to not worsen the ongoing feud.
“Aaron has never wanted want to air this out in a public forum. He’s going through great precautions not to make things worse,” a source close to the NFL star tells PEOPLE. “You’re not going to see him on Oprah crying about all of this. He will deal with his family issues privately.”
During Jordan’s time on the reality competition series, Aaron revealed to ABC’s WISN 12 News that he hadn’t been following his younger brother’s quest for love on the small screen.
“I haven’t seen the show, to be honest with you, so it hasn’t really affected me a whole lot,” said Aaron, adding that he didn’t want to elaborate on his relationship with his family.
“As far as those kinds of things go, I’ve always found that it’s a little inappropriate to talk publicly about some family matters, so I’m just — I’m not going to speak on those things, but I wish him well in the competition,” he said
I don’t know about you but my first question was why the hell is his dad doing a NYTimes interview about this? In the interview, Ed once again alludes to “fame” being the problem, that it changes a person, which is funny when you consider what Jordan has done to keep his name in the headlines. The one thing that made me sympathize with any part of Ed’s side was that apparently all of his chiropractic clients peppered him with questions about Aaron’s games. I imagine everyone wanting to know about your attendance at your son’s games because they didn’t know you didn’t speak would be pressure. Still, a whole Times interview on your pissing match with your son?
Jordan said that he didn’t think about how this would blow up when he brought it up on air. He claims, “I just wasn’t familiar with the show… ” and I claim, “bullsh-t.” He needed something to give him the edge because he was being exposed as a jerk and the sob story of ‘big bro doesn’t talk to me’ was his ticket. I mean, the melodramatic visual of having the empty chairs at the table for Olivia Munn and Aaron was so over-the-top. The majority of fingers in this sordid tale are pointed at Olivia because the rift happened only months after Aaron and Olivia got together. I just don’t get this – what could happen only months in that would leave him not talking to the family? I’m not intentionally being obtuse. I, unfortunately, know all too well what it’s like to have your in-laws disapprove of you (one of them, at least) and it sucks. But the immediacy of this rift after the relationship began makes me suspect that if something happened with Olivia, it was just the last straw.
The only thing all of the players involved can agree on is that, “it’s complicated,” in which case I wish they would figure it out before they speak out about it again.
Photo credit: Fame/Flynet Photos and Getty Images
You know what, good for him, and shame on his family for publicly exploiting the situation. Seems like that may have been the whole issue in the first place.
Agree…and have to say that Aaron is a helluva lot better looking than Jordan.
Here, here! Based on their current behavior it seems they are the ones the fame changed. Good for Aaron for standing up for himself. Sometimes complete estrangement is the only way.
In this family,the most famous person seems to be the most private and he dates a celebrity in more
This ^ …one of them is a future Hall of Fame SB winning QB and one wishes he was.
Really sad.
Sad when a family is estranged. Who knows what caused the rifts, and I know sometimes you got to put distance between yourself and family. I am lucky I grew up in a tight-knit family, I couldn’t imagine not being on speaking terms with my parents and siblings.
My husband doesn’t speak with his mother’s family. She plays the victim, but also leaves out that she said my daughter from a previous relationship should just go live with her dad since she doesn’t “match” the other kids in the same breath that she disagreed with him adopting her.
Some people are toxic, it is okay to not have them in your life. Blood is thicker than water sure, but why drown?
I’m so sorry you, and your family had to hear those hateful things. I also have a daughter from a previous relationship, and you never, ever go after innocent children.
Lingling, the last sentence, quite powerful.
Yes Lingling I found that last paragraph to be powerful and exemplify exactly why some people shouldn’t have their family in their life.
The full quote is “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.” In other words, blood shed in battle, with your true friends and comrades, is thicker than the weaker link of genetics.
@Lingling:
I am so sorry that such an awful thing happened to you, but I must echo the other commenters- your last sentence is something that is literally going to stay with me for the rest of my life.
lingling,
funnily enough, i just learned the phrase “blood is thicker than water” actually means that solid friendships can mean more than a relationship with family. a “blood brother” type thing. edit to say i should’ve read tanya’s comment first. whoops!
Unfortunately, some of us have toxic families. Sounds like Aaron does, too. Coming out of the woodwork to grouse and criticize him when he is at a crucial point in the football season and his career–the dad seems like he has no sense of boundaries or decency. Wants to keep controlling his kids’ actions even when they are adults with independent thoughts and values. No doubt whatever led to the estrangement has been building for years, his family’s dislike of his girlfriend was just the final straw.
My mother tried to force my little sister to get cosmetic surgery. She’s spent tens of thousands on it for herself. We don’t speak.
My god that sounds like my family. We still speak but it’s a very touchy discussion. I’ve lost my s**t on them more than once
Paul Ryan is a Packers fan. I’m trying to not hold that against them.
As a Packers fan (but not a Ryan fan), I appreciate this!
He has been interspersing Go Packers tweets in with his “I’m killing Obamacare and I’m getting an erection!” tweets so it is difficult for me not to associate them with the loss of birth control coverage and Medical Savings Accounts at this point. I see Clay Matthews and I see disabled people desperately in need of durable medical equipment they can’t have. But I’m trying.
Totally a guess, but it feels like his family members are taking advantage of his success looking for their own 15 minutes? But who know.
But he seems to want privacy, and that should be respected, so good for him for not engaging via the media.
I get that but if that was the case why weren’t they doing this earlier? Aaron has been a famous QB for a while now. I should know he’s been to a few of our college games when his brother was our QB. Obviously I’m not going to pick sides at this point we are just speculating but Jordan is probably the worst of them all. His family wasn’t speaking about this until they were on the Bachelor which opened up the floodgates.
Jordan wants to hang on his brother’s coattails. It is so obvious…
He was even “acting” on Pitch perfect 2 as one of the Green Bay Packers players…
Yeaaa but his brother invited him to do that. It’s not like the producers sought him out. They wanted the Packers, Aaron invited his brother. Anyways my point was more for the rest of the family not Jordan. They had years to be spilling to the press and they didn’t. Jordan opened those floodgates. Something bigger is going on here (at least for the rest of the family)
I don’t know – I didn’t read the article as “an interview with Aaron’s dad” – it seemed more like an article about Aaron with a couple of quotes from his father, and even those were vague.
I’m not a football fan and have no horse in this race, but it just didn’t read to me as “his dad went running to the Times.”
The whole situation is sad.
They are probably p!ssed because Aaron is not letting them take advantage of him anymore. Stay classy, Aaron!
Jordan is a tool…
This is kind of what I think, too. From reading the posts about his brother’s Bachelor gig, it seems like Jordan is pretty bitter about his brother’s success, which has to add to the tension.
He does seem bitter not only for not having Aaron’s success but for not having access to Aaron’s connections and life style that he longs so much to have. I am a Pats fan, but I truly admire Aaron. I saw an interview of him a while back on HBO “any given Wednesday” (I think) and really liked him. What a classy guy!
If we’re wildly speculating, I think it’s likely his family said something to/about Olivia that crossed a line. Questioning her motives dating him, racism, pure spitefulness, it’s one of the few times people cut contact and it fits the timeline.
Co-sign. I’ve been in relationships before where my SO has chosen not to attend events or we’ve both agreed I wouldn’t go if certain family members were going to be there. Just because your SO is accepting doesn’t mean his family will be.
If I recall… or maybe I’m just making it up, there was something said involving Olivia, and I think she took the high road and that’s when all communication ceased. I know it’s never pleasant to cut your family out, but I do think it takes a big person to remove themselves from a cycle of abuse… not saying HIS family is necessarily abusive, but from the outside looking in, it reminds me of my own EFFed up one.
Yeah, the people I know who’ve cut ties, its because a family member said something racist about their mixed kids.
Or over vaccination and health concerns.
Or because they are toxic.
But I also have great aunts that haven’t talked in years and neither seems to know why anymore, and family that cut someone off over a cat biting a kid who pulled his tail, so who knows, people can be petty af.
So, wildly speculating…. but the word has been that it’s not Olivia, but that Aaron’s family is incredibly religious and conservative and that he’s actually gay and in the closet (apparently his live in assistant who moved out right before Olivia came along was very public when he moved out). I don’t know if it’s true or false, and I’m not taking it as gospel, but it is a possibility.
I think it’s discusting to spread gay rumors about someone simply because you want to sesationalize a situation for your own intertainment.
So it’s much more palatable to speculate that it’s because his girlfriend is awful? That’s your line of whether or not it’s okay?
THIS IS WHAT I WAS THINKING
Thank you for mentioning it.
Bridget – I remember thinking hummmmmm there seems to be SO MUCH more to this story about his ex assistant/roommate. There was also that big deal a few years back about how a top QB was going to come out publicly in SI but then backed out of the cover story.
In this instance, it’s germane to the discussion, especially since there’s long been the rumor that it’s actually the Rodgers family that is intensely conservative and anti-gay (which also explains why Aaron would have skipped his grandfather’s funeral, when the two had been close). But serious question: what do you expect when you click on a story about a family rift like this? Aaron Rodgers is known as a decent guy – so if he’s completely cut off his family, did you think it wasn’t going to be something ugly? Would you be more comfortable if we were speculating about drug addiction?
@Mommy2b
You react as if gay is an insult and closeting isn’t a real thing that happens for a number of reasons. Check yourself on both counts.
And yeah, his “assistant” was pretty vocal and bitter about whatever went down. It came across like a bad break-up. I remember the assistant used to wear Aaron’s Superbowl ring. That’s rather couple-ish.
I think I get what mommy2b is saying.
In a normal polite conversation, bringing up that he might be gay, especially for things thought to be stereotypical, would be homophobic. That’s a generous read though, the wording leaves it unclear if you mean it’s disgusting because being gay is disgusting.
Except, we are wildly speculating here, on his home life and I don’t get the feeling any if these commenters are homophobic, just applying imaginative (or true) narratives.
Being gay shouldn’t be salacious, but we are talking public appearance and fame and sports figures, so it’s not personal opinion, it’s more reality of the pressures.
There have been ongoing rumors about Aaron Rodgers being bisexual, and his conservative family not agreeing with it.
Who knows how true all that is, though.
It’s probably not that complicated.
Packers fan here and Aaron can do no wrong:) Besides being brilliant and advancing the Packers to the next stage with that awful defense team they have and when the chances of them beating the Cowboys in their home turf were slim to none, he seems like a private, humble and funny guy. I don’t know what caused the rift and frankly it’s none of my business but the fact that his brother and now his father have been whining to the media about their issues, would make me take his side even if I wasn’t a Packers/Rodgers fan.
A lot of awful people can be fan of our teams. Paul Ryan makes more sense being a Packers fan than a woman who was born in another country, became a football fan not too long ago and has never set foot in Wisconsin (me!). Belichik is a Trump supporter after all. The fact that Paul Ryan is a fan does not make me like him more. He’s still awful for wanting to gut funding to Planned Parenthood.
Cowboys fan here, and even I have to admit that Aaron seems like a class act. I’ll be cheering for the Packers in the Super Bowl.
I first noticed Aaron Rogers when he was on Celebrity Jeopardy. He won the game by being relentlessly smart and completely unruffled when he gave the wrong answer. Then I started to watch his games and he plays football the same way.
Go Packers!
I’ve followed the Packers for awhile, and Aaron Rodgers appears to be a classy guy. He’s always giving credit to his teammates for his own amazing plays, and he seems to keep his personal life private.
I don’t feel bad for the family.I don’t know why they feel the need to constantly talk about Aaron. I do wonder what happened. Agree that if Olivia was involved it was the last straw. You don’t cut your family off for someone you’ve known for a few months.
I was rooting for the Cowboys because they haven’t been in the Superbowl since what, 1996? It was a good game and I was sad to see them lose, but goddammit Aaron Rodgers is such an incredible quarterback! It really is amazing to watch him play.
As for the family drama, right before he started dating Olivia there were rumors that he had a falling out with his lover(?)/assistant/roommate, who left Green Bay abruptly and tweeted some melodramatic, passive-aggressive stuff directed at Aaron. So I don’t think Olivia is to blame. I think Aaron is either gay or bi, and his (very religious) family found out about it right before he started dating Olivia. But whatever the cause for the rift, his brother (and father) need to stop talking to the media about it.
Allegedly the reason Jordan wasn’t a huge hit as an NFL prospect was because he was heavily involved with Anti-Gay club in college and no team was willing to bring that on board. Also his overall lack of talent
Really? Wow, no wonder Aaron is estranged from him. Yeah, I really think this all has to do with how religious (and probably anti-gay) his family is. Even if Aaron isn’t gay or bi, I can’t blame him for not wanting to associate with bigots.
I think it’s discusting to spread gay rumors about someone simply because you want to sesationalize a situation for your own intertainment.
You keep saying this. The fact is, Olivia Munn has almost exclusively been in professional bearding relationships on a contractual basis for years. It doesn’t take a wild amount of speculation to draw the connection on a GOSSIP SITE which *shocker* you are also reading.
Welcome. Yes, this is a celebrity gossip site. We gossip. You must be new here.
Sorry you think being gay is such a shameful thing to be “accused” of, most people just think it’s another thing.
I hate when people pread gay rumors for sesationalism.
Someone mentioned this to me years ago, and Datalounge has been keeping tabs on Rodgers for years because of the rumors. If you want to go down the rabbit hole, Datalounge’s threads on Rodgers are pretty detailed.
WooWee! I decided to check out the rabbit hole, and damn is that some detailed gossip. Dare I say, too detailed to the point of clinical….
My husband and I haven’t spoken to his family (in particular his father) in over half a year. There are so many things that led to this, like his father being a mysogynistic narcissist. I think the same goes for Aaron and Olivia. Eventually you just can’t deal with the bull anymore.
There’s speculation that his family doesn’t like Olivia and said some awful things about her so he cut ties with them.
As a Cowboys fan, no I wouldn’t wish something like on someone. However, I’m still bitter about that game. God I hate the fact that he’s such a good QB.
I don’t remember where I heard this – but I do remember hearing that the brother was dating one of Olivia’s friends, and cheated her, and Olivia blew the whistle. Supposedly the family thought he should have sided with the brother and dump Olivia, but he didn’t. I side with Aaron. I don’t know a lot about him, other than football stats, but I appreciate anyone who tries to keep their personal affairs private.
To give the father a bit of credit- if every overture you’ve made has been rebuffed, you tend to get a bit desperate. And, again, for all we know, Oliivia looked down her nose at them. The brother clearly was using this rift as a stunt on that show, but not quite so ready to throw Dad under the bus. I’m sure he hears the clock ticking.
Or you could, you know, respect your grown son’s agency and boundaries and keep your distance until he’s ready to engage. Or apologize for what you’ve done rather than pretend that you don’t know.
Exactly. My mother is like this and these tactics don’t make me want to be closer to her-they make me want to run away from her.
Nope. You don’t act as a distraction to your NFL-playing son during the playoffs, not if you really care about him. You do that only if you’re looking to bully him.
This seems like emotional blackmail to me. Trying to paint him as this horrible person for not speaking to them. I suspect there were issues before. Maybe they are angry because Aaron is not giving them money or not using his connections to help his loser brother. I just get tired f hearing it being the girlfriend’s fault, like Aaron doesn’t have a mind of his own.
Good for him for not talking about this.
Being from the South, a place where a lot of family rifts come because of money, I am thinking it likely has to do with money. Maybe the family wanted him to invest in something he suspects is a losing idea and he declined (smart). Or, maybe they wanted him to do more to help Jordan out and he declined (also smart). It says a lot about him that he is not throwing them under the bus and a lot about them that they ganged up on him in the media.
Yeah, I’m wondering if they were leeches and Olivia pointed it out.
If he first tried saying, well Olivia’s family doesn’t expect that, well they’d hate her forever for stealing their cash cow. I
i get this feeling too. i think it is 100% about money and him refusing to provide access for his loser brother who failed at football, failed at acting and dragged his name through the mud to capitalize on reality tv fame.
+1. I was just about to say sounds like this is about money 100%
As a person who has a toxic family, my husband is my favorite and only person. He actually makes it so I can still have something to do with them all and not burn it all down. If they ever stated they didn’t like him, or didn’t approve of him, even before we were married, it would have been an easy choice. It could be that Aaron is in the same boat. If that is the case, I understand. You have to let yourself be happy, and sometimes that means cutting out the people who won’t let that happen, even if it is parents/siblings.
So I did some research because I HATED Jordan on the bachelorette and according to reality steve (the big source of bachelor info)
Jordan dated Olivia Munn’s trainer/best friend for a very long time. However, he was cheating on her a lot. Olivia found out and obviously told her friend. The Rodgers family felt that Olivia had no right butting into Jordans life like that and trying to ruin it. Aaron sided with Olivia.
The gf in question was mentioned on the show when he said “we broke up due to my focus on my football career” Dude and i have the same amount of NFL starts (the answer is zero) and the ex girlfriend posted a instagram that said “sitting on a bench wont ruin a relationship, but cheating sure will”
And now I am outed as a bachelor franchise lover. I will now weep into my Valedictorian Speech from college
ooooooh, I am here for this tea.
I support any and all extreme fandom that brings me goss like this.
Also Jordan won but claimed he didnt know how the show worked. Except Jojo and him were talking about 6 months prior to the show starting to film and had a relationship basically. Allegedly his plan was to get to second place, bow out for her sake and then become the next bachelor however he realized there was more earning potential if he won
oh yes. he sounds like a grade A petty bitch with a thirst to match, but crafty thats for sure.
I heard the same rumor – that Jordan cheated on a good friend of Olivia’s.
I just commented the same above (but with much less details). I should have kept reading.
Hey, you’re enlightening the ignorant! Sure, it’s about celebrity gossip, but you are still spreading knowledge. That totally counts for a Valedictorian!
Gene123, you genuinely made me LOL. “And now I am outed as a bachelor franchise lover. I will now weep into my Valedictorian Speech from college”
While I don’t have much interest in Aaron because I’m a Bears fan (yes I know they suck right now), his family’s pity party is so tone deaf. Airing something so private in public is not going to heal any problems. It is just going to make it worse. I would guess the problem was a combination of his family wanting to cash in on his fame and being terrible to Olivia.
Fellow Bears fan here too, although the Packers are a second favorite of mine. I feel your pain.
Bears fan here too. Last few years have been horrible. Are they ever gonna get better??
I don’t think this is as simple as “Jordan vs Aaron” or “Olivia vs the Family.” I’ve been estranged from a sibling for seven years and there isn’t just one reason-there’s a million. Also, I agree his family needs to stop talking about this but there is a lot of speculation that Aaron’s good guy persona is just that- a persona matched with a huge amount of talent to help make him a highly bankable star of the NFL. Bleacher Report released an extremely unflattering article on this-supposedly Aaron skipped his grandfather’s funeral, texted a friend who’s wedding he was supposed to stand up in the day before the wedding to say he wasn’t coming, returned Christmas gifts from his family unopened. I’m not saying his family is grear-Jordan seems awful in particular. I just think this is a sketchier situation than people think.
If his family is half as harassing to him in private as they seem to be in public, I imagine he did all of those things you mentioned to keep from having them get in his face at social events. That doesn’t read as sketch to me, it reads as principled.
His grandfather’s funeral was a social event? The only option he had to skip a friend’s wedding he agreed to stand up in was to text him the day before? I don’t know about that. Some of his former teammates’ don’t speak too highly of him either. I agree his family is in the wrong with how they’ve publicized this, but that doesn’t mean he’s a good guy, either.
Unfortunately, you cannot choose your family, and in most cases, your neighbors.
I live in Wisconsin but am not a Packers fan. My dad’s entire family however bleed gold and green. My aunt who’s oblivious to much of the rumors around Rodger’s personal life was commenting this past weekend about why he’s back to his better form – “I heard he broke up with his girlfriend and is now speaking to his family”. Apparently, she didn’t read the NY Times article, which is good confirmation that he still is estranged from his family but still has some connections to his hometown.
He does come across as a classy individual who wants to keep some measure of privacy in his personal life. He probably has good reasons for cutting his family out, as do most people who take that step. One reason could be that both his dad and his brother appear to be using his fame to promote themselves.
It might have something to do with Olivia, but I don’t think you would cut off your whole family for someone you’ve known a short while. There must have been other issues going on prior to that. Either way I like him even more for continuing to be private about a private family matter.
I never really followed American Football. I’m a real football (soccer) kinda girl. I visited the Packer stadium with friends who were there supporting the Eagles and the fans and staff at the stadium were amazing. We had people buying us beer, giving us cheese that was fried, taking photos with us and some fans bought us Packers jerseys to take back with us. Security people came over to tease my Eagles fan friends. I thought I was in the Twilight Zone. The fans and organization was a total class act. Go Packers!
Mmm, “cheese that was fried.” One of the best things about Wisconsin!
My older sister is estranged from the family and everyone is using her spuse as the pretext for the split. By everyone I mean the family and herself. She conditioned every peace talk by her partner’s participation.
My point is: it’s never the spouse, no matter how insufferable he or she is.
Aaron’s mother, father and 2 brothers throw constant shade at him (check out Jordan’s Instagram).
They blab to the media, smear him and play the victim.
“How dare he–a man in his 30s–live his own life! He needs to be grateful for his family, he owes his family everything and it is his job to make his parents happy first and foremost. He’s just being selfish!!”
Can you blame Aaron for not walking into the lion’s den and not attending the funeral and wedding?
At what point can a person tell their folks, I love you but I want to live my life this way. Disagreeing with an adult and then crying to the neighbors and the media that the adult is being mean is pure emotional blackmail with a bit of enmeshment and emotional incest.
That’s really depressing to hear. Makes me feel even more for Aaron. I said as much yesterday, I think social media has become a plague in many ways.
Can i just say that while I feel for Aaron here, I REALLY feel for Olivia. She’s being blamed for this, she is clearly who his family has a problem with. It’s not fun to be in that situation.
It’s really sad when family rifts happen but more often than not it is about money, wealth or power.
Willing to bet that he was bankrolling the whole family and maybe he cut them off financially but he is too classy to say so.
Dad’s a chiro- I don’t know that he really needed to be bankrolled.