In February 2011, Aaron Rodgers completed one of the most incredible runs by an NFL quarterback that the game has ever seen. He led the sixth-seeded Green Bay Packers to a Super Bowl win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Dallas.
But more than a decade later, the popularity of this global superstar has eroded.
I unpack the mystery that is Aaron Rodgers with Ian O'Connor, who recently released an unauthorized biography called "Out of the Darkness."
We began our conversation with Rodgers' controversial comments about his COVID-19 vaccination status in 2021.
"I asked him that question," O'Connor says. "This is how I positioned it. I said, 'I've been a columnist in New York for a long time. If I were a columnist for Green Bay or a Milwaukee outlet, sitting in that room, and I was vaccinated, but you told your truth...’ His truth was that he was allergic to an ingredient in Pfizer and Moderna and was concerned about Johnson & Johnson's side effects. If you had just said that, I would have found that to be a somewhat reasonable position. I really don't think I would've hammered you in my column that day. You would've gotten less than half of the criticism you received in November when the truth came out."
Watch: Unpacking Aaron Rodgers' fall from grace: 'Immunized,' ayahuasca, and more
O'Connor continues, "He basically said that he doesn't admit to mistakes easily. I don't ever remember him saying the words, 'I'm sorry.' But he did say it was a mistake, and he regrets it. He wishes he had just told his truth that day. He understands that was probably his biggest public relations mistake because it changed his life and his image forevermore."
O'Connor's book also details Rodgers' estranged relationship with his parents.
Watch the full interview in the video player below:
"The parents believe that Olivia Munn had a tremendous amount to do with this," Ian explains. "He was dating her at the time the estrangement started in late 2014. Other family members feel the same way. But he hasn't dated Olivia in seven years, so it can't be all her fault. I think Aaron brought into that relationship feelings and issues he already had with his family. He felt that the family revolved too much around his success and fame. There were too many connections to it. He was also very generous with family members and didn't feel it was fully appreciated."
O'Connor's book goes on to detail a host of other controversies involving Rodgers, from his use of the psychedelic ayahuasca to his public feud with late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel. And as the title of the book suggests, Rodgers' highly publicized darkness retreat is also explored.
All of these incidents, O'Connor says, contributed to a very public fall from grace.
I asked Ian in our interview how the world views him now.
"Right now, negatively, unfortunately," Ian explains. "I think it's a lot of self-inflicted wounds. It started with COVID, but the conspiracy theories and the Kimmel thing were unforced errors. Even though I don't think he intended to say what people thought he said about Jimmy Kimmel, things have piled on."
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