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New York Post
Inside the secret meeting between Aaron Rodgers and estranged dad after years-long family feud
By Ryan Glasspiegel,
2024-08-08
Aaron Rodgers has gone the better part of a decade with virtually no contact with his immediate family, including his parents, Ed and Darla, and two brothers, Jordan and Luke.
Emphasis on virtually .
Days before reporting to his first Jets training camp last year, Rodgers shared an emotional moment with his father at the American Century Championship golf tournament at Lake Tahoe that might have been the first step toward eventual reconciliation, according to “ Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers ,” a biography of the 40-year-old quarterback written by former Post columnist Ian O’Connor.
The book comes out on Aug. 20.
Ed Rodgers, a chiropractor and former college football offensive lineman who taught football to Aaron and his brothers, secured a tournament ticket from a patient with the hope of having some interaction with the son he had not seen or spoken with since late in Green Bay’s 2014 season.
Inevitably, the four-time NFL MVP spotted his father in the crowd during his Saturday round while heading for a bathroom break.
Aaron told O’Connor he considered skipping the bathroom, or acting like he was talking on the phone, to avoid his father.
“I could do a lot of things,” the quarterback recalled in the book. “But I just thought, ‘What’s best in this moment, and what kind of gift could I give him?’ Because I do love him. I don’t have animosity toward him, even with all the stuff that’s been said and done.”
After temporarily losing sight of his middle child from the gallery ropes, Ed Rodgers turned around to find his son looking right at him from less than 20 feet away. They were suddenly alone in a clearing.
“It had been so long since we even looked at each other,” Ed Rodgers said. “I just kind of froze.”
According to the book, Aaron broke the ice by saying, “Hi Pops,” and walked toward his dad. The two men embraced.
Ed Rodgers said his tears were flowing after his son returned to the course to complete his round in the celebrity tournament. Ed said he had been dreaming of this embrace for years.
“It was amazing,” Ed said in the book.
After finishing his round, Aaron told his caddie and longtime friend Jordan Russell, “I think that was what needed to happen.”
“That was a special moment,” Aaron later told O’Connor.
With the quarterback’s knowledge, Ed and Darla attended their son’s Jets debut against Buffalo on the 9/11 anniversary last year.
Ed and Darla had continued attending occasional Packers games even after Aaron stopped communicating with them while he was dating actress Olivia Munn, who, the parents believed, had a primary role in her boyfriend’s choice to cut off his family.
(Aaron and Munn both denied this.)
Ed and Darla were sitting anonymously among Jets fans near the 25-yard line — about 30 rows up from the field — when their son suffered his season-ending Achilles injury on the Jets’ fourth offensive snap.
“It was shocking, honestly, so bizarre,” Ed Rodgers said. “It took the wind out of the whole stadium. The people around us didn’t know who we were, but nobody said anything negative like, ‘This is what happens with an older quarterback.’ It was, ‘Oh no. Oh no. Tell me it’s not true.’ …It literally happened right across from us.”
Ed and Darla did not see their son after the game, or at any point during his recovery. But early in the offseason Aaron told the author that the road to reconciliation likely ran through his father.
“It’s just timing, just timing,” Aaron said. “Every time I think it’s getting closer some weird things happen. But I would like a relationship with my dad for sure.”
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If his parents were devout Christians, they would still have e a relationship with him. They don't have to agree with his life style nor should the judge
Jean
08-09
He is a dweeb. Don’t care if he’s straight or gay. He’s a despicable caricature of a human being.
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