The biggest revelations from new documentaries

Aaron Rodgers knows he’s “kind of an enigma.” Now the private star is letting people in like never before in his new Netflix documentaries. The apt title Aaron Rodgers: Puzzle follows the New York Jets quarterback as he recovers from a ruptured Achilles tendon last year. In the three-part series he talks about his life on and off the field.

“Nobody knew exactly 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 more comfortable in my own skin. But I think it’s a constant battle to work on my communication off the field.”

Rodgers knows that he has been “cast as a villain, especially in recent years.”

“There were definitely times when being able to fight back was part of the struggle… but it was heartbreaking when my reputation took a hit,” he said.

“Who am I? Am I the football player, am I the guy off the field?” Rodgers asked. “I used to really 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 on various personal matters. This includes everything that has become public about his family conflict The Bachelorette to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who asked him to be his vice president.

Here are some of the biggest revelations off the field.

Rodgers addresses family drama… and calls The Bachelorette ‘Bullshit’

“When I became really famous… I heard from a lot of people, including family members, saying, ‘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 just feel like you don’t see me,” Rodgers recalls. “(Fame) is not something I ever wanted or desired other than playing on Sundays.”

The athlete’s life changed after he won the Super Bowl in 2011.

“The relationships definitely changed after that. Friendships, family. It wasn’t like I was super close to everyone in the family. I was very close to my little brother,” Rodgers said, referring to younger brother Jordan. “But really it’s about things from high school that kind of made me feel distant. Things from college, things after college.”

Jordan Rodgers exposed the family conflict in 2016 while competing on the season of JoJo Fletcher The Bachelorette.

“I kept quiet about it because I thought the best way was not to talk about it publicly. And what did they do? You go to a bullshit show and leave two chairs empty,” Rodgers continued.

The athlete is referring to the infamous hometown date scene when Fletcher traveled to Chico, California to meet Jordan’s parents, his eldest brother Luke and Luke’s girlfriend. Noticeably absent were Rodgers and his then-girlfriend Olivia Munn.

“You all agreed that was a good thing? “Leaving two empty chairs on a stupid dating show that my brother just became famous on – his words were not mine – that 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 leave,” Rodgers said, “not that I went.”

For the most part, Rodgers stays silent about famous relationships

The athlete made it clear that he doesn’t believe fame is something that should come with his job, but admitted he hasn’t done himself any “favors” by the women he’s dated.

“I enjoyed my personal life, but winning the Super Bowl changed everything,” he said.

“I had never had a 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, ‘Shit, life is different now.'”

“Well, I didn’t do myself any favors with some of the girls I dated after that who were in the public eye,” Rodgers admitted. “I definitely hated it at first. I really despised it.”

Pictures of Rodgers with his famous exes, including Munn, Danica Patrick and ex-fiancée Shailene Woodley, flashed on the screen. However, he didn’t talk about any of the women.

Yes, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asked Rodgers to be his vice president

In the second episode, Rodgers and Kennedy are filmed on a hike together in early 2024.

“Have you thought about going into politics?” Kennedy asked Rodgers.

“I became interested in politics when I was a sophomore in high school,” Rodgers replied, explaining that he became particularly interested in the subject after learning of 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. “What’s actually going on?”

Rodgers pointed to the Warren Commission report, which concluded that JFK was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, who acted alone.

“Is what you said happened? “That can’t be true,” Rodgers told Kennedy. “Then I went to (University of California) Berkeley, where there’s a crazy political environment. It’s super left-wing and I grew up in a really conservative small town environment, so it was fun to test my ideologies.”

Rodgers said he was “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 her promotion, the athlete told the camera on Feb. 20. Rodgers debated 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 working on recovering his Achilles tendon. “There is still work to be done in New Jersey.”

Kennedy dropped out of the race in August and endorsed Donald Trump. He is now the president-elect’s nominee to lead the Health and Human Services Department.

Rodgers briefly addresses the designation as a conspiracy theorist

In March, it was leaked that Rodgers was on Kennedy’s Veep shortlist while he was on an ayahuasca retreat in Costa Rica. Images of headlines about his vaccine skepticism appear on the screen. This also applies to reports claiming that Rodgers said the Sandy Hook shooting was a “job by government insiders.” (Rodgers denied this in a statement.)

“I’m now supposedly a Sandy Hook denier too?” Rodgers said. “Misrepresentation is certainly a trigger. Trauma, trigger whatever.”

About vaccination gate…

In the latest episode, Rodgers goes over his infamous line, “Yeah, I’m immunized,” which sparked an online firestorm.

“Growing up, we never got the flu shot; my dad just didn’t believe in it,” Rodgers said. Although he may have misled the media with this response, he reiterated that the NFL and the entire Green Bay Packers organization knew he was looking for alternative methods for 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 this in the documentary: “We knew everyone’s status.”

Despite winning the NFL MVP award in 2021, Rodgers admitted he had regrets.

“Of course, sometimes you wish things could be simpler in various ways. No positive test for COVID, no better answer to a question,” Rodgers said. “Having my reputation on the line throughout the 2021 season was definitely heartbreaking.”

Religion is partly responsible for changing family dynamics

After Rodgers won the Super Bowl in 2011, he embarked on a different 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 has to be wrong, someone has to be right. I was just slow to disconnect.” “That showed in high school,” Rodgers said, noting that “it was cool” to encounter different 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 encountered resistance to “what would be viewed as an alternative lifestyle.”

“I began to defy the institutions of my youth. “It ranged from organized religion to my parents to dogmas and ideologies,” he explained. “It definitely changed the dynamics of my family because I just questioned everything.”

Elsewhere in the documentary, Rodgers spoke about how there was “no room for emotion” as a child, saying he once saw his father crying when his grandfather died. “I definitely had limited emotional intelligence,” he said.

However, Rodgers said he has “love, respect and gratitude for my upbringing because it would not have made me who I am today.”

Asked if there was hope for a reconciliation with his family, Rodgers said: “Of course.”

“I wish them no ill will at all,” he said. “We are just different steps on the timeline of our own journeys.”

Aaron Rodgers: Puzzle is now streaming on Netflix.