Aaron Rodgers feels a type of way about “The Bachelorette” eight years after his estranged brother, Jordan Rodgers, won season 12 of the ABC show and went on to marry JoJo Fletcher.
During his newly released Netflix docuseries, “Aaron Rodgers: Enigma,” the Jets quarterback opened up about his strained relationship with his family — and recalled when they were featured on “The Bachelorette” during Fletcher’s hometown dates in 2016.
“It wasn’t like I was super duper close with everybody in the family. I was close with my little brother,” Aaron, 41, said of Jordan, 36, on episode two of the series, which started streaming on Tuesday.
“But in actuality, it goes back to stuff from high school that kind of made me feel distant. Stuff in college, stuff post-college.”
Rodgers said he “was quiet about” their family because “I thought the best way to do it was just don’t talk about it publicly.”
When Fletcher’s season of “The Bachelorette” aired, Rodgers made headlines because he was noticeably absent from a family gathering that took place during the hometown dates — and included their parents, Ed and Darla, and oldest sibling Luke Rodgers and his girlfriend.
In a scene that was filmed at Rodgers’ parents home in Chico, Ca., the family sat together at a table with two open chairs, which were meant for Rodgers, who was playing for the Packers, and his then-girlfriend, actress Olivia Munn.
“And what do they do? They go on a bulls–t show and leave two empty chairs,” Rodgers said.
Fletcher acknowledged the family rift in a confessional at the time.
“[Jordan] comes from such an amazing family with so much love and so much character — but sitting down at that table, there are two empty seats and I know that they probably wish Aaron was sitting in one of them,” Fletcher said.
“It’s hard because that’s Jordan’s brother, that’s Luke’s brother, that’s Ed and Darla’s son. I have no idea, nor could I even imagine why Aaron wouldn’t want to be a part of their lives.”
Jordan — a former quarterback at Vanderbilt, who had a short stint in the NFL before moving on to sports broadcasting — and Fletcher married in 2022.
Rodgers went on to explain that he is open to a reconciliation with his family.
“People ask me, ‘Is there hope for reconciliation?’ I say, ‘Yeah of course. Of course,’” Rodgers said on the Netflix show. “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 a timeline of our own journeys.”
The three-part docu-series is currently streaming on Netflix.
