Aug. 26, 2024 11:30a
(WGTD)---The author of a new biography on Aaron Rodgers spoke with Greg Berg on the Morning Show last week, offering additional insight into the behavior and controversial comments of the former Packers quarterback, who alternately receives both adulation and scorn.
Ian O’Connor’s book, “Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers”, is the product of interviews with hundreds of Rodgers’ teammates, former teammates, friends, family and acquaintances, culminating with a two-hour-long interview with Rodgers himself.
For one thing, O’Connor, in his book, explores Rodgers’ habit of holding onto grudges. “He was so focused on being a master of his craft that if he felt in anyway you were a hindrance to that—you were a distraction to his focus—then you were going to the ‘island’, O’Connor said. “That’s how I saw it—that’s how other people saw it.”
Rodgers’ publicized estrangement from most members of his family is a thing that’s hard to explain, O’Connor said. “So you have a lot of ‘he said, she said’ in this estrangement and there are 14 or 15 reasons why it still exists," O’Connor said. “The bottom line is it shouldn’t exist anymore. Obviously it’s gone on too long and hopefully they’ll find peace and unity and hopefully it’ll happen sooner rather than later.”
Rodgers, who now plays for the Jets, told O’Connor that he regrets making some of his comments on COVID, saying he honestly feared having a harmful reaction if he had gotten vaccinated.
O’Connor explores Rodgers’ many achievements on the field, and his interactions with former teammates.
In a bid to get into his psyche, O’Connor notes that Rodgers as a teenager rebelled from his strict religious upbringing. He also discovered that Rodgers’ ‘contrarian’ personality stems from an early age. “He always needed to ask the question why about everything in his life,” O'Connor said. “And I had a friend of his tell me growing up that Rodgers (and himself) believed in magic and miracles. He said when you believe in that you believe in the possibility of everything, including conspiracies.”
Rodgers, however, told O’Connor that he now regrets some of his comments on COVID, saying they were borne out of genuine concern for the potential harmful effects of the vaccine.
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