Aaron Rodgers’ reunion with his estranged parents happened long before he made it public on social media.
According to footage obtained by TMZ, the NFL quarterback, 42, was able to hang out with his mom, Darla Rodgers, and his dad, Ed Rodgers, back in April at the inaugural Pleasant Valley High School Athletics Hall of Fame dinner in Chico, California.
The ceremony, held at the Chico Elks Lodge, celebrated Aaron’s journey from a three-sport standout at Pleasant Valley High School to one of football’s most successful quarterbacks.
Aaron gave a speech during the ceremony and thanked his parents at one point, TMZ reported.
The resurfaced reunion comes after Aaron made headlines earlier this week for posting photos with his parents and brother Luke Rodgers. (Aaron’s other brother, The Bachelorette alum Jordan Rodgers, was noticeably missing from the Instagram carousel.)
“Another bonding week,” Aaron wrote via Instagram on July 20. “#Fam.”
While the photos may look innocent to the average follower, many fans of the NFL stud will recall his longstanding rift with his family.
When Jordan, 37, competed on future wife JoJo Fletcher’s 2016 season of The Bachelorette, he revealed his distant relationship with Aaron.
“I have a great relationship with my brother Luke. Me and Aaron don’t really have that much of a relationship,” Jordan recalled in the episode. “It’s just kind of the way he’s chosen to do life, and I’ve chosen to stay close with my family and my parents and my brother. Yeah, it’s not ideal, and I love him, and I can’t imagine what it’s like to be in his shoes and have the pressure he has, the demands from people that he has. I don’t have hard feelings against him; it’s just how things go right now.”
In the 2024 Netflix documentary Enigma, Aaron also addressed what led to his estrangement from several family members.
“It wasn’t like I was super-duper close with everybody in the family. I was close with my little brother,” Aaron said. “But in actuality, it goes back to stuff from high school that kind of made me feel distant. Stuff in college, stuff post-college.”
In a separate interview on The Pat McAfee Show in March, Aaron said it was other family members who made the rift public.
“If you look at the saga with my family, for years it was one-sided,” he claimed. “They were making shots in the media saying bulls***. I never said anything until it got to the point where I’m like, ‘Alright, enough is enough.’”
