'Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers' author assigns blame in Jets QB's family estrangement

Aaron Rodgers and his family estrangement is one of the biggest stories revolving around the New York Jets quarterback.

Of course, people are focused on his on-field play this year, since he actually got through Monday night’s opener without a scratch. But his family is a huge subject in Ian O’Connor’s new book: Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers.

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But who’s to blame? Rodgers? His family? Both?

“I think the blame can be, it really needs to be spread around,” O’Connor told On3. “These family fractures are always complicated. This one is an extreme case. It’s gone on for 10 years, and it’s one person in Aaron really driving it, where he’s estranged from everyone in his family. Not just his parents and his two siblings, but also some maternal aunts that were significant in his upbringing and his maternal grandmother and other friends that he’s exiled from his life. 

“And he’s not the first person I’ve met with that character trait where if you slight him in a real or imagined way, he’s going to remove you from his life. And I have a quote in the book from his good friend Jordan Russell, who was also exiled from his life for a few years, and was one of the few people that Aaron brought back, who said, ‘If you’re not mission aligned with Aaron Rodgers, he’s going to remove you from his path. His goal is to be an all time great and if you’re a distraction, a hurdle, or he perceives you to be that way, you will be removed whether you’re a family member or a friend.’ And that’s just the way he’s wired.” 

It’s more than just the initial divide, at least on the surface, between Rodgers and his family when he dated actress Olivia Munn. 

“There are 15 different issues or so involved in the estrangement and I won’t go over all of them now. I mean, initially, at the start, religion was a part of it. It’s not so much anymore,” O’Connor said. “He was raised in a devoutly Christian home, and that’s something he rebelled against.

“And I think that planted the seed for other rebellions. He’s had issues with his brothers. They’ve had issues with him. And at the end of the day, he did think that the family unit revolved too much around his fame, fortune and success.” 

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Ian O’Connor dives into Aaron Rodgers family estrangement

Munn is blamed by Rodgers’ parents Ed and Darla. As O’Connor described in his book, she was part of the divide. But the two broke up in 2017 and Rodgers has yet to reunite with his parents, brothers and others.

“And Olivia Munn, who’s blamed by the parents to a large degree, for starting the estrangement in 2014, the actress that he was dating, she confirmed his feelings,” O’Connor said. “That was her role in it, but hasn’t dated her in seven years, so like, it’s not her fault anymore.” 

As far as what’s next, despite the issues between Rodgers and his family, there could be hope at coming back together. In an emotional scene in 2023, Rodgers and his father shared a hug at Lake Tahoe during a golf tournament. It was brief, but meaningful.

“And I have that hopeful scene in the book hugging his dad, Aaron did last summer at Lake Tahoe before Jets camp, and they said, I love you,” O’Connor said. “It’s the first time they had seen each other or spoken in nine years, and I’m hoping that that’s the first step towards reconciliation. Aaron says in the book that he wants to reestablish a relationship with his father, who was his hero, his idol growing up he said he wanted to be his dad.”

It might not happen in a week or soon, but there’s a chance. Rodgers’ parents plan on attending the Jets’ home opener in Week 3.

“So I think if that happens, now, his parents are planning on going to the home opener again,” O’Connor said. “I drove them last year to the game on 9/11 against Buffalo, of course, that only lasted four plays, and they are planning on going to the game against the Patriots, the home opener on September 19. 

“I don’t think there’s a planned meeting with Aaron after the game or anything, but I think there’s more, I guess, renewed hope that it will happen sooner than later. And as a human being not a journalist and just as a father, of course, I would love to see that happen shortly.”