He’s been estranged from his family for years for unspecified reasons.
But now Aaron Rodgers seems to be getting closer to his brother Jordan Rodgers as the two have started ‘talking’ again, an insider told People on Tuesday.
The first signs of a thaw in relations between the brothers comes after their father said he was proud of the 38-year-old Green Bay Packers quarterback in November over his refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Signs of a thaw? Aaron Rodgers, 38, and his brother Jordan Rodgers, 33, have begun ‘talking a little bit’ following a years-long rift, a source told People on Tuesday. The source of their estrangement hasn’t been fully explained
The source close to Aaron notes that he and Jordan have started ‘talking a little bit’ recently, but they noted that ‘there’s still a division’ between the famous siblings.
‘They’re just very different people with different outlooks,’ the source said. ‘But they’re family and they know that.’
According to the insider, Aaron’s refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19 appears to have left him more in need of close connections than ever before.
‘It’s very hard for Aaron, who feels like his circle is very small, and it’s not filled with the people who should be in his corner,’ they continued.
Representatives for both brothers didn’t immediately reply to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
Opposites: ‘They’re just very different people with different outlooks,’ the source said, adding that there were there was ‘still a division.’ They added, ‘But they’re family and they know that’; Arron seen January 2 in Green Bay, Wisconsin
Last year, Rodgers gave the impression that he had gotten one of the coronavirus vaccines after he said he had been ‘immunized,’ but that turned out to be a bit of semantics, as the quarterback had refused the vaccine, which was revealed when he tested positive for COVID-19 in November.
Afterward, he claimed in a statement to the Pat McAfee show that an allergy prevented him from safely getting vaccinated, though he said he had found an alternate ‘immunization protocol’ through his own ‘research.’
‘I have an allergy to an ingredient that’s in the mRNA vaccines,’ Rodgers claimed. ‘I found a long-term immunization protocol to protect myself and I’m very proud of the research that went into that.’
He also said he had refused the vaccine over fears about ‘sterility or fertility issues around the vaccines,’ though there’s no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines affect fertility in males or females.
Aaron stated that he was taking advice from podcaster Joe Rogan and had begun taking ivermectin on his recommendation, despite the FDA stating that the drug was not approved to treat COVID-19 in ‘humans or animals.’
Sniping: Jordan first mentioned the estrangement on The Bachelorette in 2016, and he criticized his brother in 2018 for raising awareness about wildfires on Twitter but not calling his affected parents; seen with JoJo in 2019 in NYC
The rift between Aaron and his family came to light in 2016 when Jordan appeared on The Bachelor, on which he eventually proposed to his fiancé JoJo Fletcher.
While courting her, he noted that he had a solid relationship with his oldest brother Luke, but that Aaron was disconnected from the rest of their family.
‘It’s just the way he’s chosen to do life,’ Jordan said on camera. ‘I chose to stay close with my family and my parents and my brother [Luke].’
Jordan seemed to escalated the feud in 2018 when he slammed his brother on Twitter for failing to call his parents — who live in Northern California — amid a series of disastrous wildfires.
Though Jordan suggested that Aaron hadn’t called his parents, the football star still made a public appeal on Twitter for people to donate to those affected by the fire in Paradise, California.
Health controversy: Aaron came under fire in November 2021, when it was revealed he was unvaccinated against COVID-19 despite claiming he was ‘immunized’
Aaron shed more light in January 2020, when he appeared on then-girlfriend Danica Patrick’s podcast Pretty Intense and suggested that his family’s conservative religious beliefs made him uncomfortable when he was younger.
A source close to his family later told People that the comments left them ‘dismayed.’
‘The family is very dedicated to their Christian faith…To them, his comments are basically a slap in the face to the fundamentals of who they are. It’s basically him turning his back on everything they have taught him.’
Although Aaron’s public vaccine refusal infuriated many fans, it may have helped his relationship with some of his family.
After his unvaccinated status became public in November, his father Ed Rogers stated that he was ‘proud’ of his son for refusing the vaccine.
‘The main thing [is] I just support him,’ he told USA Today. ‘I’m proud of him. I trust his judgment and decisions. I think that’s what I would’ve done.’
Ed also claimed he didn’t understand how his son’s comments about being ‘immunized’ could have led anyone to believe that he had gotten vaccinated.
‘I’m not sure why people think he misled anybody,’ he said.
Family: His vaccine refusal earned Aaron praise from his father Ed Rodgers, who told USA Today he was ‘proud’ of his son for not getting vaccinated
