Aaron Rodgers found himself at the center of massive backlash last week after testing positive for COVID-19.
Because the Green Bay Packers quarterback tested positive, it came out that he had never received the COVID-19 vaccination, which was news to a lot of folks.
The reason why many believed that he had received it is because Rodgers had previously suggested he was “immunized.” That was thought to be confirmation that he had gotten his necessary shots. When it turned out that he hadn’t, all hell broke loose.
Given the sheer weirdness of this entire situation, many have taken to wondering what impacted Rodgers’ decision to both remain unvaccinated and not reveal it prior to this. Inevitably, many have opted to blame his fiancée, Shailene Woodley.
“I think everything about my lifestyle is fairly alternative,” she famously told Flaunt Magazine a few years ago. “I gather my own spring water from mountains every month. I go to a farm to get my food. I make everything, from my own toothpaste to my own body lotions and face oils. I could go on for hours. I make my own medicines; I don’t get those from doctors. I make my own cheese and forage wild foods and identify wild plants. It’s an entire lifestyle. It’s appealing to my soul.”
The fact that Woodley opted to create her own medicine is what resurfaced online this week, in light of Rodgers’ woes.
Last Friday, the Packers quarterback appeared on the Pat McAfee Show and attempted to clear the air.
“First of all, I didn’t lie in the initial press conference,” Rodgers said. “During that time, it was a witch hunt that was going on across the league, where everybody in the media was so concerned about who was vaccinated and who wasn’t and what that meant and who was being selfish and who would talk about it, what it meant if they said it’s a personal decision and they shouldn’t have to disclose their own medical information.
“And at the time, my plan was to say that I have been immunized. It wasn’t some sort of ruse or lie. It was the truth, and I’ll get into the whole immunization in a second. But had there been a follow-up to my statement that I’ve been immunized, I would have responded with this: I would have said, ‘Look, I’m not some sort of anti-vax, flat-Earther. I am somebody who’s a critical thinker.’”
Woodley, for her part, has been defiant. She sent out a strong message on Instagram regarding the backlash Rodgers has been receiving and she seems to be standing by him firmly.
In a way, none of this should be surprising. Rodgers and Woodley’s relationship has been a unique one from the jump. Beginning with the odd (and in some people’s eyes dubious) way they coupled up to the weird process by which they got engaged, it has been one bizarre turn after another.
Instagram posts like this only serve as further head-scratchers:
Rodgers missed last week’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs as a result of this circus, which his team subsequently lost.
The expectation at the moment is that he will return for next Sunday’s showdown against the Seattle Seahawks, but time will tell if that actually comes to fruition.
Now that’s a Halloween costume. https://t.co/WVK6W11K9M
— Game 7 (@game7__) November 1, 2021
Related: NFL Ref Getting Fired Over Odd Flag Against Bears’ Cassius Marsh?
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
