Aaron Rodgers' bizarre relationship with family detailed in story

There were some hints given during last summer’s season of “The Bachelor”, of all places, that the relationship between Green Bay Packers star Aaron Rodgers and his immediate family is less than idyllic.

A story published to Bleacher Report on Friday, by former Packers beat writer Tyler Dunne, reinforces the idea that Rodgers has little-to-no contact with his parents and two brothers, having cut them off completely nearly two years ago; his own father buys tickets through StubHub if he wants to see his son play.

Citing a source who “was close to Rodgers for years but is among the many who have since been cut off by Rodgers entirely,” Dunne outlines just how bad things are:

• Immediate family members don’t have his cell phone number;
• His parents sent Christmas gifts to Rodgers and his girlfriend in 2014, only to see them mailed back two months later;
• Rodgers told his family they are no longer welcome in Green Bay;
• He backed out of serving as a groomsmen for one of his closest friends the day before the wedding;
• He did not attend the funeral of the grandfather he used to call before every game;
• He fired his business manager, whom he’s known since high school.

As Dunne notes, it’s certainly possible there’s another side to this story (Rodgers declined to be interviewed), a reason why the quarterback has behaved this way.

But the source believes Rodgers’ alienation of his family is why he’s playing so poorly.

“There’s no explanation for him playing any worse,” the source said. “People are trying to figure it out. He’s a [expletive] head case. He knows he’s doing the wrong thing, and he’s so arrogant and prideful that he thinks he can separate his personal life from his professional life, even though all of us know that’s impossible. You can’t do that. You can do that in little spurts, like when Brett Favre went out and played amazingly when he loses his Dad. But when you’re talking about real situations that aren’t all of a sudden circumstantial and you [expletive] over good people, people you’re supposed to love, it’s a [expletive] thing to do and you’re going to get humbled.

“You can’t live like that, man. The people who live like that end up getting [expletive] over. That’s kind of what’s happening here, but he’s so prideful and will never admit he’s wrong. Ever.”

If Rodgers’ family and friends know why he’s decided to cut them off, no one is saying. But Dunne’s source believes it will hit Rodgers “hard” someday that he’s missed major events like weddings, funerals and holidays.

In the meantime, the source remains resolute: the Rodgers of the past is hard to find because he’s isolated himself.

“He completely, abruptly, 360 degrees changed into somebody else,” the source said. “Think about it: He put himself on an island where he has no family. And you wonder why the dude can’t do his job like he used to.”