Aaron Rodgers' Family: Inside His Ups and Downs with His Parents and Brothers

Aaron Rodgers’ rift with his family — including his younger brother Jordan Rodgers — dates back to at least 2014

Aaron Rodgers has experienced his fair share of ups and downs — both in his professional career and in his personal relationships.

On the football field, the NFL star spent 18 seasons with the Green Bay Packers, leading them to a Super Bowl victory in 2010. Despite contemplating retirement heading into the 2023 season, he signed with the New York Jets — and sustained a season-ending torn Achilles injury in the first game that left him “heartbroken.”

Off the field, Aaron’s family relationships have also had their fair share of drama. The legendary quarterback has been estranged from his parents, Ed and Darla Rodgers, and his two brothers, Luke and Jordan, for nearly a decade.

The family feud first came to light when Aaron’s younger brother Jordan appeared on JoJo Fletcher's season of The Bachelorette in 2016. Jordan — who eventually wed Fletcher in 2022 — revealed while competing on the reality dating series that Aaron had distanced himself from the family.

“My goal was to be honest with her every step of the way,” Jordan told PEOPLE at the time about his decision to make their rift public. “It had to be talked about.”

Despite drawing attention to their family drama, Jordan didn’t provide any insight as to what had led to Aaron’s estrangement from the rest of the Rodgers clan. However, a source close to Aaron previously told PEOPLE that it stemmed from a lifelong sibling rivalry between the former Green Bay quarterback and his younger brother Jordan, who also briefly played in the NFL.

Related: Aaron Rodgers Says He's Felt a 'Lot of Sadness' Since Tearing His Achilles (Exclusive)

“[They] have always been competitive, and they’re always trying to one-up each other,” the source revealed. “It’s been that way since they were kids. They got older, and the stakes got higher.”

The rivalry came to a head when a disagreement between the brothers evolved into a “blow-up,” the source said. “It wasn’t an argument about anything all that interesting. Some things were said on both sides that were regrettable.”

“Their parents got involved in the middle of it,” the source added. “Everyone needed a cooling-off period. It could have ended there, but some people chose to go public with it, rather than keeping it a private family matter. And here we are.”

So where does Aaron’s relationship with his parents and brothers stand today? Here’s everything to know about the Rodgers’ family feud.

Aaron’s rift with his family first became public in 2016

The tensions within the Rodgers family were first revealed in the spring of 2016, when Jordan appeared on Fletcher’s season of The Bachelorette. While on the reality show, Jordan confessed to Fletcher that while he was very close with his oldest brother, Luke, Aaron was estranged from the rest of the family.

“It’s just the way he’s chosen to do life,” Jordan explained on the show. “I chose to stay close with my family and my parents and my brother [Luke].”

The feud was discussed further when Fletcher traveled to Chico, California, for her hometown date with Jordan. During the visit, Fletcher met Jordan’s parents, Ed and Darla, his brother Luke and Luke’s girlfriend — but Aaron and his girlfriend at the time, Olivia Munn, were notably not present. (Their absence was marked by two empty chairs at the dinner table).

Luke offered additional insight into the situation with Aaron during the hometown visit.

“It’s something we don’t really like to talk about a whole lot,” he told Fletcher. “It pains both of us like, not to have that relationship [with Aaron] — we miss our brother. I trust that God brings things full circle and that everything would just get back to us being a family."

While Jordan and Luke were both open about their relationship with Aaron on camera, the NFL quarterback declined to offer his side of the story when questioned by the press at the time. In July 2016, Aaron told ABC’s WISN 12 News that he didn’t want to elaborate on the situation with his brothers and parents.

He continued, “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.”

In 2017, Ed revealed Aaron hadn’t spoken to the family in three years

The patriarch of the Rodgers family, Ed, opened up to The New York Times in January 2017 about his strained relationship with his middle son, Aaron.

“Fame can change things,” he said in reference to Aaron, who, at the time, was the star quarterback of the Green Bay Packers.

Ed also confirmed that Aaron had not spoken to his family since the end of 2014, a few months after he began dating Munn. “It’s complicated,” Ed told the outlet about his relationship with Aaron. “We’re all hoping for the best.”

Aaron, meanwhile, was “going through great precautions not to make things worse,” a source close to the NFL told PEOPLE at the time.

“You’re not going to see him on Oprah crying about all of this,” the source added. “He will deal with his family issues privately.”

Olivia Munn encouraged Aaron to mend his relationship with his family

In May 2018, Munn, who dated Aaron from 2014 to 2017, spoke candidly on Andy Cohen’s SiriusXM radio show, Andy Cohen Live, about the quarterback’s relationship with his family — and the frustrations it caused while they were together.

Munn revealed to Cohen that when their relationship began in late 2014, the quarterback hadn’t spoken to his family in months.

“I was friendly with Jordan, and I met the parents only a couple of times,” Munn told Cohen. “Before he and I started dating, he hadn’t spoken to the parents and one brother for like eight months.”

But Munn pushed Aaron to reach out to his family, she shared on the podcast. She told Cohen how she spent much of her last day filming HBO’s The Newsroom in her trailer, encouraging Aaron to give his parents a call. He did, and it briefly mended his relationship with his family.

“They had a really nice conversation, then they started coming out my first year when I was in Green Bay in 2014,” she recalled. “I just think it’s really important to try to mend things in a family, and I encouraged that.”

However, the reconciliation was only temporary, as later became evident when the family’s drama became public in 2016. And while Munn didn’t offer any specifics as to what led to Aaron’s falling out with his family, she did share that she felt there was blame on both sides.

“At the end of the day, I do believe that family, and fame and success, can be really complicated if their dreams are connected to your success,” Munn said.

She added: “Their work has a direct connection to what he does. At the end of the day, there are a lot of complications. I don’t think either side of the road is clean, but I do think it’s not okay when you try to stand on someone’s shoulders and then throw dirt in their face, which is what I think they did with him.”

Jordan took his feud with Aaron to social media in 2018

The tensions between Aaron and his younger brother Jordan intensified in 2018, particularly on social media. In April 2018, Jordan posted on Instagram to acknowledge National Sibling Day — but did not include his brother Aaron.

Jordan posted a photo of himself and his oldest brother Luke standing side by side with their arms embraced. In the caption, he wrote about how he had “looked up to this guy” since he was a little kid.

The Bachelorette winner continued, “He is the coolest, best dressed, has the biggest heart, lovable, best griller, little kid big brother I could ask for. Love you bro!”

A source close to Aaron told PEOPLE at the time that the omission of the NFL star from the Instagram post was “probably intentional” and revealed that the brothers could be very “passive-aggressive.”

The source added, “They are just like any other family, with petty arguments and jealousy and all the other things. But at the end of the day, they really do love each other. But the relationship is strained ... It’s unfortunate that the family’s drama is in the public eye, and that Jordan will do something like this to drum up more attention that is really unnecessary.”

However, the brothers’ feud continued on social media months later when Jordan accused Aaron on X (formerly Twitter) of not reaching out to their parents during the 2018 California wildfires.

In November 2018, Aaron revealed on the social media site that he was donating $1 million to those impacted by the wildfires in his home state of California.

“I personally reached out to my friends and the mayor of Chico to find out how to be of the most help,” the former Green Bay quarterback said in a video shared on his X account. “And raising money for both immediate needs and the long-term recovery is what is needed most right now.”

But Jordan responded to the video — and accused his brother of not reaching out to his own family as the fires began to spread.

“When your own Mom is home alone during the fires, car packed ready to evacuate, & you miss the fundamental first step of compassion; calling your parents to make sure they are safe…. Everything else just feels like an act,” his tweet read.

Aaron hinted at a reconciliation with his parents in late 2018

Though Aaron’s relationship with Jordan appeared as rocky as ever in 2018, the NFL star indicated in an interview that he had spent time with his estranged parents for his birthday on Dec. 2.

In December 2018, the then-Green Bay quarterback — who had just turned 35 — was asked in an interview how he reacted to the news that the team’s head coach, Mike McCarthy, had been fired following the team’s loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Aaron revealed that he had learned of the firing news while with his parents, Ed and Darla.

“I mean, I found out, I’m sure, the same way that most of you found out,” Rodgers said in a clip posted to the Packers website. “I was at home with my folks in town for my birthday. When I found out, I was as shocked as many of you were, I’m sure.”

Aaron upset his family with his comments on religion in 2020

According to ESPN, Ed and Darla are devout Christians, and the Rodgers boys grew up attending a non-denominational church. But when Aaron spoke about his Christian upbringing years later, he shared that he struggled to connect to the religious community.

“Most people that I knew, church was just ... you just had to go,” Aaron told then-girlfriend Danica Patrick on her Pretty Intense podcast in January 2020.

Aaron also told Patrick that he now sought out a “different type of spirituality” that is more meaningful to him than the faith he was exposed to as a child.

“I don’t know how you can believe in a God who wants to condemn most of the planet to a fiery hell,” he said. “What type of loving, sensitive, omnipresent, omnipotent being wants to condemn his beautiful creation to a fiery hell at the end of all this?”

Aaron’s comments about religion left his immediate family “dismayed,” a source told PEOPLE.

“The family is very dedicated to their Christian faith,” the insider explained. “To them, his comments are basically a slap in the face to the fundamentals of who they are. It’s basically him turning his back on everything they have taught him.”

The source also hinted that religion was a factor in Aaron’s years-long rift with his parents and brothers.

“The feeling is that Aaron has really turned his back on them,” the insider shared. “There’s clearly a lot more to it, but that’s how he is perceived by his family.”

The source continued, “His comments are very hurtful to the family ... They have these times where things start to thaw out, but then something like this happens, and then it’s back to square one. It’s sad."

Jordan and Aaron began to repair their relationship in 2022

After years of silence between the younger Rodgers brothers, Jordan and Aaron took steps toward mending their relationship in early 2022.

In January 2022, a source close to the NFL star told PEOPLE that the brothers had “started talking a little bit.” But despite opening the lanes of communication, a “division” still existed between them, according to the source.

“They’re just very different people with different outlooks,” the insider told PEOPLE. “But they’re family and they know that."

In August of that same year, Aaron opened up about the possibility of putting the years-long family feud behind him. While appearing on the Aubrey Marcus Podcast, the one-time Super Bowl MVP revealed that he held “no bitterness” in his heart toward his family — and was hopeful for the future.

“I do believe in healing and I believe in the possibility of reconciliation at some point,” Aaron said. “But, it’s a different journey for all of us, and to judge on the outside about what should be or what it should look like, or who’s wrong or who’s right, is just a game I’ve never wanted to play and still don’t want to play.”

Aaron had hoped that his experience using ayahuasca during a trip to Peru would help to facilitate healing the fractured family bonds — but the psychedelic drugs didn’t provide the clarity he was seeking, he shared in an interview with Peter King on NBC Sports in August 2022.

“I really felt like I wanted to surrender and open up to the medicine for some healing to come through and some direction on how to kind of go about that. And it didn’t. It didn’t necessarily,” Aaron shared.

However, ayahuasca did allow him to tune out any “negative voices” and “fully give my heart to my teammates, my loved ones, relationships because I can fully embrace, unconditionally, myself,” he shared.

Aaron appeared to be absent from Jordan’s 2022 wedding

After Jordan and Fletcher became engaged on The Bachelorette in 2016, Jordan shared that his brother Aaron would “absolutely” be invited to their wedding — despite initially revealing their rift on the reality show.

“There’s no scenario in which I wouldn’t want my entire family at a wedding, so absolutely, that’s something all of our family wants and hopes for at some point,” Jordan told reporters at the time.

But when Jordan and Fletcher eventually tied the knot in May 2022, there was no word of Aaron’s attendance at the California nuptials. Jordan’s oldest brother Luke, who served as best man, shared several photos from the wedding weekend on his Instagram — including family shots where the NFL star was noticeably absent.

That was also the case when Luke got married in April 2019. Luke, the eldest Rodgers brother, shared a family photo from his wedding to his Instagram — featuring his parents, younger brother Jordan and Fletcher, but no Aaron.

“This year I’m overly thankful for my wonderful family ... People are the currency of heaven and they are what make our lives full,” Luke wrote in the caption.

Aaron contemplated his relationship with his family during a darkness retreat in 2023

In February 2023, Aaron completed a darkness retreat — which involved spending four days and four nights in “darkness isolation” at a southern Oregon facility. He used the sensory deprivation experience to “do a little self-reflection” on topics including his career and his relationships with his family.

Upon exiting the retreat, the former Green Bay quarterback spoke about the experience on the Aubrey Marcus Podcast, revealing that he had “a lot of great contemplation” while alone in the 300-square foot room.

“I really wanted to contemplate some things with some relationships in my life, some family stuff, and then, obviously, career stuff, and just kind of let whatever was going to come in, come in. And it did, it definitely did,” Aaron shared on the podcast.

He continued, “There was ... a lot of lessons around how I show up in the world and how I show up to, in my relationships, friendships, and there was definitely some interesting insights around my childhood, and things that happened in my childhood that I was able to sit with and heal.”

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