After nearly two decades in the NFL — which has brought as much controversy off the field than on — Aaron Rodgers has finally decided to tell his story in his own words.
In the three-part Netflix docuseries Aaron Rodgers: Enigma, which premiered Tuesday, December 17, Rodgers, 41, traced his life and career from his childhood in northern California to his current role as quarterback for the New York Jets.
Unsurprisingly to anybody who has followed Rodgers’ narrative, the story is both surprising and messy, weaving together a complicated family history with his controversial place as one of the most recognizable faces in the NFL.
Rodgers discussed it all — from his fractured relationship with his brother Jordan Rodgers and his list of famous ex-girlfriends, to his recent political connections and stance on vaccinations.
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For a rundown of the 10 wildest and most surprising moments from Aaron Rodgers: Enigma, keep reading.
Aaron Rodgers Talks ‘Grief’ of Season-Ending Achilles Injury
Four snaps into his first season with the New York Jets in 2023, Rodgers suffered a season-ending Achilles injury.
“I put so much into this. I care about it so much,” Rodgers said after the injury. “To have it taken away in an instant four plays into a season? It’s been pretty jarring mentally.”
He added, “I haven’t experienced that much grief in my life, probably.”
Aaron Rodgers Was Called ‘Soft’ By His Parents
Rodgers expressed gratitude to his mother and father, Darla and Ed, for a perceived lack of toughness they saw in him.
“I was very fortunate when I was a kid to have parents who believed I had a very low pain tolerance,” Rodgers said. “There’s some lessons that were hard to learn as a child and you react or you adapt or whatever it is. I felt like there was many times where my parents felt like I was a little soft.”
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He added, “And because of that, I made sure I was the toughest motherf—er that I knew.”
Rodgers expressed that his “childhood conditioning” played a major role in his aggressive rehab regimen after his Achilles injury.
“Any time I had some sort of injury, I was going to make sure that I could hold it together as well as I could,” Rodgers explained. “I could come back quicker than anybody said I would. So, dealing with pain has just always kind of been a way of life.”
Aaron Rodgers Had an Existential Crisis After Winning the Super Bowl
After winning his first and only Super Bowl in 2011, Rodgers found himself at an existential crossroads.
Rodgers said it was a “special night” when the Packers defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV, but said it was “weird what happened afterwards.”
“There wasn’t like a great party,” Rodgers remembered. “You’re kind of exhausted. You’re sitting on the bus, it’s 1 in the morning. You just accomplished the greatest thing ever and you’re like, ‘Damn, that was cool. Now what?’”
Rodgers continued, “Now I’ve accomplished the only thing that I really, really wanted to do in my life. Now what? Did I aim at the wrong thing? Did I spend too much time thinking about stuff that ultimately doesn’t give you true happiness?”
Aaron Rodgers Discussed Conspiracy Theories With Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was in the midst of his presidential campaign at the time of filming, appeared in the docuseries to bond with Rodgers over their shared experiences with the media.
“You get a kind of stoicism from being hammered all the time,” Kennedy, 70, told Rodgers on a hike together. “You have to kind of embrace that. It’s like you.”
Rodgers laughed and said, “That’s everyday life for you.”
On their hike, Rodgers discussed his interest in politics — relating it back to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
“I got into politics back when I was a sophomore in high school,” Rodgers told Kennedy. “The idea all around, honestly, your uncle’s death. That was my first entrance into kind of pulling the veil back, as I call it, on what’s actually going on.”
Rodgers continued, “I read the Warren Commission’s report about it. I remember it hit me, ‘This is what they said happened? This can’t be real.’”
The Warren Commission, established in 1963, concluded that President Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, who acted alone.
Kennedy Jr. would later ask Rodgers to be his running mate on his presidential campaign, but Rodgers would turn it down.
Aaron Rodgers Shades His Own Dating History
In discussing his increased level of fame after winning the Super Bowl in 2011, Rodgers explained how his life became rife for public consumption.
“I didn’t do myself any favors with some of the girls I dated after that who were in the public eye,” he said.
Rodgers had high-profile relationships with actresses Olivia Munn and Shailene Woodley, and former race car driver Danica Patrick and their photos were included in the show.
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“I definitely hated it at first,” Rodgers said of fame. “I really despised it. I enjoyed my private life. I enjoyed being able to go places.”
Rodgers lamented, “That got a little more difficult.”
Aaron Rodgers Addresses ‘The Bachelorette’ Drama With Brother Jordan
Rodgers’ younger brother, Jordan, appeared on the 12th season of ABC’s reality series The Bachelorette in 2016, where Jordan — along with parents Darla and Ed — openly discussed their estrangement from Aaron.
“I was quiet about it, because I thought the best way to do it was [to] not talk about it publicly,” Aaron explained. “And what do they do? They go on a bulls— show and leave two empty chairs? They all agreed this was a good thing to do?”
In a visit to the Rodgers’ family home with Jordan, 36, and JoJo Fletcher — who would eventually get married in May 2022 — there were two chairs left vacant at the dinner table to signify Aaron’s absence. (The second chair was for Aaron’s then-girlfriend, Munn.)
Aaron called The Bachelorette “a stupid dating show” that Jordan “just went on to get famous, his words not mine.”
“A dinner that was during the season I was never asked to go to, not that I would have gone,” Aaron said of the scene.
Aaron Rodgers’ “Alternative Lifestyle” Led to Further Division in the Family
In the docuseries, Rodgers talked at length about how his family’s religious beliefs and his regimented upbringing ultimately resulted in resentment toward his parents.
So, when Rodgers started exploring other ways of thinking, it only served to make the chasm even wider.
“When I started looking into other religions and plant medicine, I also found a lot of resistance,” Rodgers said. “Doing things, compared to what I grew up in, would be considered an alternative lifestyle.”
Rodgers continued about his family, “They’re living as best they can. That is still engulfed in organized religion, which works for them. That’s great. As much as they might not like what they see, [I have] love, respect and gratitude for how I was raised. Because it wouldn’t have turned me into who I am today.”
Optimistically, Rodgers said “of course” there is hope for a reconciliation with his family.
Aaron Rodgers Preaches a “New Way of Thinking About Masculinity”
Cameras follow Rodgers to Costa Rica in March 2024, where he has taken numerous spiritual healing journeys centered around ayahuasca ceremonies.
“I think part of the real joy in this work is there is such a feminine spirit to the ayahuasca,” Rogers explained in. “We can model a new way of thinking about masculinity, or what it means to be a man.”
He added, “It’s the balance between the divine masculine and the divine feminine.”
Rodgers said the idea of being vulnerable emotionally “wasn’t really modeled growing up.”
“I think I saw my father cry when my grandfather passed, and that might have been it,” he continued. “There wasn’t space for emotion. I definitely had some stunted emotional intelligence to communicate those emotions for sure.”
Aaron Rodgers Enters the Sweat Lodge
Part of Rodgers’ trip to Costa Rica involved a temazcal, a traditional sweat lodge ceremony.
“I’ve been in temazcal a few times before and it’s really, really hard,” Rodgers said. “Any time you go in the sauna, there’s a lot of great health benefits for it. It’s shedding the toxins, but I think from an esoteric standpoint, it’s putting yourself in the womb of the medicine.”
In temazcal, participants enter a structure that is then filled with hot rocks or stones to create a blisteringly hot environment.
“In that tradition, the rocks hold the wisdom,” Rodgers explained. “We’re sitting in the womb, the temazcal. The water is used to create the steam. The steam comes out, and we’re able to absorb the medicine and knowledge, the wisdom of our ancestors that are stored in the rocks.”
Rodgers wanted to “see how long I could sit in front of the heat.”
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“I was spinning a little bit,” he admitted. “I closed my eyes. I was seeing visions. This feeling in the temazcal when I’m like, ‘I can’t sit up anymore and I feel like I’m going to pass out.’ It’s discomfort. It’s temporary. At some point, that door’s going to open, I’m going to walk out there. I’m going to go into the little creek and I’m going to be so thankful that I stuck this out.”
Cameras showed exactly that, with a shirtless Rodgers exiting the structure and leaning up against a tree exasperated.
“That’s what this work’s all about,” he said. “It’s finding your edge, what you can deal with, and making a new one.”
Aaron Rodgers’ Vaccination Skepticism is Deep-Seeded
Aaron Rodgers’ controversial history with vaccines is well-documented — for more on that, click here — which Rodgers’ revealed all started with his father, Ed.
“We never did the flu shots growing up,” Rodgers noted. “My dad just didn’t believe in it, and didn’t think a shot that’s notoriously been in the 15 percent range as far as effectiveness of even just picking the right strand of flu that season was worth the unknown ingredients of that.”
Rodgers continued, “So I was always a little bit skeptical of that.”
All three parts of Aaron Rodgers: Enigma are available to stream now on Netflix.
