Aaron Rodgers had been building towards a reunion with his family for some time, it has emerged after the quarterback shocked fans by posting a series of photographs with his estranged parents and brother.
The Pittsburgh Steelers star celebrated what he called ‘another bonding week’ by uploading pictures of himself alongside his mother, Darla, his father, Ed, and his brother, Luke, to Instagram on Monday night.
Rodgers had reportedly been estranged from his close family for more than a decade but now more details on their path to ‘reconciliation’ have been revealed.
The quarterback’s biographer, Ian O’Connor, detailed on Tuesday how the Rodgers family reunion did not come out of the blue.
The author reports that back in April, the quarterback invited his parents to his Hall of Fame induction at his old high school, Pleasant Valley in California.
It’s said that Rodgers introduced Ed and Darla to the crowd and thanked them for their support on his journey to the top of the NFL.
Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers reunited with members of his family after a period of estrangement
In a series of photos posted to social media, Rodgers was also seen with his older brother, Luke
The 42-year-old NFL star was seen tinkering with children’s toys for Luke’s two children
In O’Connor’s book, Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers, the quarterback discussed a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in 2023, when he ’embraced’ his father.
It was the first time they had spoken in nearly nine years. Rodgers called it a ‘special moment’ and O’Connor claimed on Tuesday that their embrace ‘opened the door’ to a reunion.
The quarterback said at the time that a reconciliation was ‘definitely possible’ and suggested it was a matter of when, rather than if.
According to O’Connor, Rodgers’ former college coach Craig Rigsbee was among those who encouraged the quarterback to reconnect with his family. Rigsbee coached Rodgers at Butte College, where he played before joining Cal.
Rodgers’ ex-girlfriend, Olivia Munn, was reported to be a factor in the 42-year-old’s estrangement from his family.
The Daily Mail exclusively reported that Darla, a devout Christian, was mortified that Munn openly admitted to having premarital sex with her son.
At the same time, Munn claimed to have tried encouraging Aaron to patch things up with his parents – which Ed branded as ‘a lie.’ She also went on an ‘angry rant’ with his parents about how they couldn’t see him after a game in Tampa.
His younger brother Jordan and his wife – JoJo Fletcher – did not feature in any of the pictures
Jordan Rodgers (right) married JoJo Fletcher (left) as part of ABC’s The Bachelorette
At the time, Ed told Munn: ‘You haven’t been on the scene very long. You’re just his girlfriend. We’re his parents.’ His parents hoped to get a phone call from Rodgers apologizing for Munn’s comments but they never did.
They went to Tampa anyway and were met with an email he sent to family members that effectively said: ‘Don’t attack the woman I love.’
Meanwhile, Rodgers’ younger brother, Jordan, was not spotted in any of the photographs posted on social media this week.
As revealed by the Daily Mail last year, Jordan and his wife – reality TV star JoJo Fletcher, whom Jordan met and married after Season 12 of The Bachelorette – did not attend Aaron’s wedding to his wife Brittani.
‘Jordan and JoJo didn’t go to the wedding and don’t even know anything really about Brittani,’ a source said. ‘What they’ve heard is secondhand from his parents.
‘They are still angry that Aaron didn’t go to their wedding. He didn’t want to be with his brother on the biggest day of his life, so why should they twist themselves up over this wedding?’
