Aaron Rodgers Calls Out “Bachelorette” Dinner Drama: “I Was Never Invited”
Aaron Rodgers is known for his precision on the football field, but in Netflix’s new documentary Aaron Rodgers: Enigma, the NFL star takes a rare and emotional deep dive into his off-the-field struggles — most notably, the long-running tension with his family.
At the center of the rift is a moment that many fans remember vividly: the infamous family dinner scene from The Bachelorette in 2016. During the episode, Aaron’s brother Jordan Rodgers, then a contestant on JoJo Fletcher’s season, brought her home to meet the family. While everyone else was seated at the Rodgers family table — including their parents Ed and Darla, their brother Luke, and his girlfriend — two glaringly empty chairs stood out.
Aaron and his then-girlfriend Olivia Munn were absent, and for the first time, the public got a glimpse of the strained relationship between the football star and his family.
Reflecting on the scene, Aaron, now 41, reveals in the documentary that he was not invited to that dinner.
“I was quiet about it, because I thought the best way to do it was don’t talk about it publicly. And what did they do? They go on a bulls— show and leave two empty chairs. They all agreed, like, this was a good thing to do, to leave two empty chairs at a stupid dating show that my brother just went on to get famous — his words, not mine — that he ended up winning. But like, a dinner that was during the [NFL] season, that I was never asked to go to, not that I would’ve gone,” he stated.
The fallout with his family wasn’t just about the dinner scene. Aaron reflects on the challenges of fame and how it changed his relationships. “There was a lot of times when I became real famous, where I heard from a lot of people, including family members, where it was like, ‘Your life is too big, we need you to be smaller, be smaller. Don’t talk about your life,’ and it always hurt me because it’s just like, you don’t see me. This is not something I ever desired or wanted, other than playing on Sundays,” Aaron added.
Aaron also notes his spiritual growth and interest in exploring other religions and plant medicine as additional points of contention. In his words: “You know, they’re living the best they can, that is still engulfed in organized religion, which works for them, it’s great. So, as much as they might not like what they see, [I have] love, and respect, and gratitude for how I was raised because it wouldn’t have turned me into who I am today.”
Despite years of tension, Aaron remains hopeful about mending the relationship. “People ask me, like, is there hope for a reconciliation? I say, ‘Yeah, of course, of course.’ I don’t want them to fail, to struggle, to have any strife or issues. I don’t wish any ill-will on them at all. It’s more like this: We’re just different steps on the timeline of our own journeys,” he stated.
