‘He Keeps People Guessing’: Insiders Tell Us About the Real Aaron Rodgers

As a star quarterback, Aaron Rodgers has won one Super Bowl and four MVP titles, and there’s little doubt he’ll be inducted into the Hall of Fame. In early June, after 20 seasons in the NFL — and a potentially career-ending 2023 Achilles tear — the 41-year-old signed a one-year $13.6 million contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers, making him the longest-running active QB in the league.

Off the field, his success has been a bit trickier to track. He crossed over into the celebrity sphere in the early 2010s thanks to high-profile romances with Jessica Szohr, Olivia Munn, Danica Patrick and Shailene Woodley, as well as his popular State Farm commercials and 2015 Celebrity Jeopardy! win. (He later guest-hosted and even considered replacing the late Alex Trebek at the helm of the hit game show). His estrangement from his family made headlines the following year when his younger brother, Jordan, won season 12 of The Bachelorette and revealed they weren’t on speaking terms.

In 2021, he alienated some fans and sparked a media firestorm after he confirmed he wasn’t vaccinated against Covid-19. Soon, he was openly discussing conspiracy theories about Big Pharma and the Kennedy assassination on podcasts. In 2022, he talked about taking the psychedelic plant ayahuasca, calling it a “mind-expanding” experience.

Despite the polarizing effect of his musings, he’s become increasingly more vocal, a transformation he talked about in 2024’s three-part Netflix docuseries Aaron Rodgers: Enigma. “As I got to love myself better and get comfortable in my own skin, I felt way more comfortable sharing some of the stuff from behind the curtain,” he said, adding, “I like being able to have a voice [and] I like being able to open it up more and talk about non-football stuff.”

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Still, he remains shrouded in mystery. He surprised reporters at a June 10 press conference when he revealed he’d married his girlfriend, Brittani, “a couple of months” earlier. (He announced he was in “a serious relationship” during an April appearance on The Pat McAfee Show and sparked speculation he’d tied the knot after he was spotted wearing a ring at a Kentucky Derby event in May.) As of press time, he has yet to be seen with his new bride.

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Amid talk about his eventual retirement (Rodgers said that he’d chosen to “stay in the public eye for one more season” during a June 24 interview on The Pat McAfee Show), the question of who he really is lingers: Is he a loyal teammate and leader or an arrogant and overrated player? An emotionally-evolved male or a toxic, conspiracist bro? A victim of negative media bias or a master of controlling the narrative? An alpha athlete or a spiritual seeker?

“Aaron [marches] to the beat of his own drum,” his trainer and Align Podcast host, Aaron Alexander, tells Us, while Rodgers’ childhood friend Jordan Russell, with whom he’s still close, calls him “a multifaceted person.” Even sports commentator Skip Bayless, who’s been critical of Rodgers admits, “I have never encountered a professional athlete like him on and off the field.” Us Weekly talked to members of Rodgers’ inner circle, NFL players, sports journalists and more to unravel the mystique.

The Free Thinker

For years, Rodgers was mostly known as a handsome and athletically gifted football player who starred in amusing State Farm ads. Then, in 2021, he began making waves. Three months after announcing he was “immunized” against Covid-19, he revealed he’d taken ivermectin because of an “allergy to an ingredient that’s in the mRNA vaccines,” noting on The Pat McAfee Show that he felt like he was in “the crosshairs of the woke mob.” (State Farm ended their 12-year ad campaign after the 2022 NFL season.) He also likened the vaccine to “experimental gene therapy” that “changes your DNA.”

In Ian O’Connor’s 2024 biography, Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers, the NFL player told the author that while he didn’t regret not taking the vaccine, he wished he’d been more clear with the press, noting, “I would have said, ‘Look, I’m not some sort of anti-vax flat-Earther. I am somebody who’s a critical thinker. You guys know me, I march to the beat of my own drum.’”

It’s far from the only conspiracy theory to which Rodgers has been linked. During a 2023 episode of HBO Max’s Hard Knocks, the QB talked about seeing a UFO, and in 2024, Jimmy Kimmel threatened legal action after Rodgers implied the talk show host had ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The Chico, California, native has been labeled a contrarian, but Russell says his pal is simply standing up for what he believes in. “If Aaron disagrees, he’s going to share his disagreement. He’s not contradictory just to be contradictory.” Rodgers’ friend and Chicago Bears safety Adrian Colbert tells Us the QB doesn’t follow the status quo for the sake of it. “Aaron understands that we all get to choose how we want to live our lives. Whether it disrupts or upsets people, that’s not really his problem.”

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The Heartbreaker

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His romance with Munn — which lasted from 2014 until 2017 — was marked by talk the star had caused a rift between Rodgers and his family, including his parents, Ed and Darla, and brothers, Jordan, 36, and Luke, 43. Rodgers denied the talk, telling O’Connor the feud, which he claimed had to do with distancing himself from his parents’ staunch Christian views, started earlier, and that Munn had “nothing to do with all the years before.” After the actress, he dated Nascar star Patrick for two years; in May, she described their relationship as “emotionally abusive” and said Rodgers “leaves a trail of blood.” His engagement to Woodley also ended dramatically in 2022 (they were together for one year), with the Big Little Lies alum calling the breakup “the lowest low of my life” and referring to their romance as a “toxic situation.”

Perhaps it’s fitting that Rodgers has decided to finally make it official with someone who isn’t in the limelight. “I had public relationships. How did that work out?” he said during his June 24 appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, defending his decision to stay mum about his new partner. “Because I want my personal life to be private, now I’m weird. I’m with somebody who wants to be private. She deserves a right to that.”

The Giver

Becky Pinter, President and CEO of the MACC Fund (Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer), tells Us Rodgers was “extremely supportive” of their mission to raise money for pediatric cancer and related blood disorders research (she says he helped raise $2.5 million since 2010). “Aaron was absolutely fabulous… He was always willing to take pictures and talk with the kids,” Pinter adds, noting that the longtime Green Bay Packer was “approachable” to everyone involved. “He was very down-to-earth and happy to take a picture with a check, meet with our staff, sign helmets.”

O’Connor also recalls Rodgers’ behind-the-scenes generosity: “The team had a White Elephant holiday gift exchange, and Aaron rigged it so a practice-squad player who wasn’t making big money ended up with the quarterback’s gift — a new Ford Bronco,” he tells Us, noting that Rodgers “wouldn’t let his agent publicize that story.”

Russell tells Us that the negative comments that get picked up in the press aren’t an accurate reflection of who Rodgers really is. “There are two sides to every story. [The media will say] that he doesn’t care about his teammates, and then you ask the teammates and they will say, ‘Oh he’s the greatest team guy there is,’” says Russell, adding that Rodgers doesn’t go out of his way to prove people wrong. “People have no idea of the amount of good things Aaron does for the people he loves… and that’s how he wants it.” O’Connor also admits he was somewhat surprised by the responses he got while conducting interviews for Rodgers’ biography. “Honestly, I was expecting more negativity,” he tells Us. “Going back to high school, those players spoke of a well-liked and respected teammate who never caused any trouble.”

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The Underdog

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In Enigma, Rodgers reflects on how the most humbling moments during his career (hardships he calls “ego deaths”) inspired him to push harder. He was projected to be a top draft pick after attending college at the University of California at Berkeley but ended up being the 24th player drafted in 2005; he was then forced to sit on the sidelines while Brett Favre finished out his quarterback reign with the Green Bay Packers. Two years after becoming the starter QB, the Packers won the Super Bowl. In 2022, he told GQ that doubters keep him hungry: “It’s always nice when people tell you you can’t do something, and then you go out and prove them wrong.”

Alexander — who worked with Rodgers after his Achilles surgery in 2023 — says the athlete thrives under pressure. “The more I could challenge him to some degree, the more he would start to light up. As it got harder, he kind of, like, [went into] a mode of sorts where it’s like, ‘Oh, cool.’” Adds Russell: “What powers Aaron is people telling him he cannot do something. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing a game of ping-pong or golf, Aaron is a competitor in his soul.”

The Seeker

Rodgers credits the plant-based psychoactive ayahuasca (which he’s done nine times) with helping him find “unconditional self-love” — and process his feelings about growing up in “a very white, dogmatic church.” In early 2023, he announced he was going on a four-day “darkness retreat” to contemplate his future — according to ESPN, the owner of the facility in Oregon said Rodgers spent four days and nights in a 300-square-foot room that was “devoid of light” and “partially underground.” Rodgers explained in Enigma that he turned to enlightenment to offset the perfectionism that left him “teetering on self-loathing.” In Alexander’s experience, Rodgers is committed to bettering himself. “He had a great interest in internal work.”

The Philosopher

“There is depth to him. I think that’s very refreshing,” says Balazs Bercsenyi, the tattoo artist who has inked Rodgers twice. (The first design, which features two lions and an astrological sign and an eye, went viral in 2022; the second is a dragon.) Bercsenyi tells Us working with Rodgers was “one of the best experiences I had with any famous person,” partly because they enjoyed getting deep. “I find myself deeply philosophical as well… [so] it was cool to meet someone who is coming in with that same [outlook]. We found common ground very easily, and even the designing, everything came to us very effortlessly. I really enjoyed spending time with him.”

Alexander had a similar experience. “I’ll talk about conspiracy theories and aliens and stuff like that all day,” he says with a laugh, “and that’s something we could connect on… I really love when people have big ideas, because to me, I just love asking questions. The things that Aaron’s into sometimes, you gotta kind of grapple around a little bit to be able to understand. Working with him, I enjoyed having the space and opportunity to explore weird questions. It’s kind of like, as things get weirder, it gets more interesting and engaging.”

Russell tells Us that the QB is consistently trying to expand his knowledge. “He’s not a one-dimensional athlete. He’s an autodidactic person. He’s always learning new things about all kinds of topics… and talks about things other people don’t talk about.” Russell believes Rodgers’ outspokenness is inspiring. “I think young people are looking for ways to trust their own path. Giving people a point of view into someone’s healing path — I think that’s fascinating.”

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The Jokester

That’s not to say that Rodgers always takes life so seriously — Russell says that his sense of humor is one of the things he most appreciates about the athlete as a friend. In 2022, he told GQ he and his Green Bay teammates often made fun of each other over their fashion choices. “If you wear a bad outfit to the plane, you’re going to hear about it for the first 10 minutes of the flight, for sure,” he said. He also reportedly loves quoting funny movies, including Tropic Thunder and The Princess Bride, and in 2015, it was revealed he would hand out “Man of the Week” awards to players after finding unflattering photos of them online. “He’s pretty hilarious,” Alexander tells Us. “He has a good sense of humor.”

The Mastermind

Still, not everyone is convinced that Rodgers is showing his true colors. Bayless says the QB is just as strategic off the field as he is on it, explaining that he “knows how to play the game of self-promotion” and is “brilliant” at media manipulation. “It’s all calculated. And he does love to be seen as an enigma. You can’t know exactly what they’re going to do next. He loves to shock the world.” Bayless even questions the timing of Rodgers’ marriage announcement, theorizing that he avoided talk about his advancing age at the June 10 Steelers event by “showing up with a ring” on his finger. “He knew the press conference would be about, ‘Are you over the hill?’… It’s all calculated.”

Bayless has been openly critical of Rodgers’ athletic prowess — after being signed by the Steelers, he criticized the move and labeled him a “washed-up, 41-year-old, finger-pointing, blame-deflecting diva” on X — and his issues with Rodgers extend off the field. “He’s not a good guy,” Bayless says. “I’ve talked to a number of [his former Green Bay teammates] about how much they did not enjoy playing with him. I think he’s an egomaniacal superstar whose star is fading on the field [and] who is dancing as fast as he can to grow his star off the field. He’s very gifted at it.”

O’Connor believes that Rodgers likes to keep people guessing. “Ever since he was a kid, he asked the ‘why’ about everything in his life, so I think he enjoys it when people are forever asking ‘why’ about the things he says and does… Even if he doesn’t admit it for public consumption, it’s clear he likes being talked about in the public arena,” O’Connor tells Us. “Aaron Rodgers will always remain a mystery of sorts,” he adds. “And because of that, I think the NFL — and sports in general — is a much more interesting place when Aaron is part of it.”

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The Fighter
Sports commentator and legendary former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman says he hopes Rodgers is able to “recapture some of his form” with the Steelers in the fall (Rodgers’ two seasons with the Jets didn’t go as planned following his Achilles injury). “I think it’s a good fit, actually,” Aikman tells Us, noting that he’s “totally fine” with Rodgers speaking out more about hot topics. “He’s gained a voice, a voice that maybe he didn’t have as a child.”

Alexander is confident that Rodgers is still adhering to the physical and lifestyle changes they implemented following the QB’s Achilles injury. (The trainer, who focuses on nervous system regulation and breath work, lived with Rodgers for several months during his recovery.) “It was like, ‘I’m going to be in your fridge, check out your bedroom, your sleep situation. You’re sitting beside the wifi router, we’re gonna unplug that. Your cell phone is one throughout the night on your bed, let’s stop doing that. We’re going to actually go outside and ground your body. You’re gonna take your shirt off. You’re gonna get as much sun as your body can possibly tolerate,’” Alexander tells Us of his all-encompassing method. “It was pretty much a year of making Aaron Rodgers essentially a more in-tune-with-nature Aaron Rodgers.”

As for retirement, Aikman says walking away from the sport you love is not a simple decision. “I did not think he’d be the guy at 41 years old that was still playing. Neither did he, for that matter. When I said that to him [about six years ago], ‘I don’t see you playing in your 40s. He goes, ‘Yeah, well, neither do I.’ But like anything, when it becomes such a big part of your life, walking away from it is easier said than done.”

Bayless theorizes that if things go south with the Steelers (“I’m pretty sure this is going to fail miserably,” he says), that doesn’t necessarily mean his NFL career is over. “I’ve already started thinking, ‘Which team could it be next year?’ I started thinking about the Las Vegas Raiders. What if [QB] Geno Smith has a bad year, and they just decide, ‘This didn’t work, and Aaron’s on the market. Oh, we could have Aaron Rodgers in Las Vegas.’ No, but would he sell and sell highly? He’s Aaron bleeping Rodgers.”

Still, before signing with the Steelers, Rodgers told Pat McAfee his focus “has been and will continue to be” on his personal life. (Fittingly, he’s called his future “a beautiful mystery.”) He no longer has anything to prove to anyone — except himself. “I want to go out still knowing I can do it,” Rodgers said in Enigma. “I want to go out on my feet, playing good football.” And when the time comes to hang up his uniform, “You won’t see me,” Rodgers said to McAfee on June 24 about his desire to retreat from public life. “When all this is done, I’m out.”

For more on Aaron Rodgers, watch the exclusive video above and pick up the latest issue of Us Weekly — on newsstands now.

With reporting by Andrea Simpson, Dan Trainor, Mariel Turner & Amanda Williams