Aaron Rodgers is finally opening about about being forced to address rumors about his sexuality in a 2013 radio interview, and how looking back, he wishes he would have better handled the situation.
The New York Jets quarterback made the remarks while speaking with ESPN host Jason Wilde on his Milwaukee radio show, Tuesdays With Aaron. When asked if he was aware of rumors that he was gay, at the time Rodgers emphatically denied the allegations, famously proclaiming that he "really, really" likes women.
"Yeah, I’m just going to say, I’m not gay. I really, really like women. That’s all I can say about that," Rodgers told Wilde. Though he admitted "there’s always going to be silly stuff out there in the media," he conceded that you can't worry too much about it. "Professional is professional, and personal is personal. And that’s just how I’m going to keep it," he added.
In a new biography that hit shelves this week, Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers, the 40-year-old explained to the book's author Ian O'Connor why he decided to speak out in the first place.
"I think I was upset with the framing because it was meant to shame the idea of being gay, and I have so many friends that are gay in the community," Rodgers recalled in an excerpt via Us Weekly. "And right before that, [Jason Wilde] and I actually have talked about this multiple times, and I said, ‘I want to go after them, the people saying this.'"
"Not in relation to me, because I could give a s--t what they thought about me, but that they’re using this to shame, like it’s a bad thing to be gay. Like it’s a negative," he continued.
Rodgers insinuated that he wanted to further defend the gay community, but that he decided to drop it after Wilde suggested that he "just let it go."
"I wish I had done the former because that’s how I really felt. I’m like, say anything you want about me, but do you understand these people are using this to shame the idea of being gay?" he elaborated. "That’s just disrespectful to all my friends who are in the community who don’t believe that it’s a choice. They were making it seem like you’re shaming people for being gay, when a lot of them, if you ask them, they didn’t ask for this life. ‘This is who I am.'"
"So I wished I would have handled it that way, and I don’t blame Jason. We’ve talked it out," he added.
Fortunately, a decade and some change later, we live in an age where speculation into the sexuality of celebrities is no longer mainstream gossip fodder. So instead, we can focus on topics such as Rodgers' immunization status or lack thereof.
