GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers prefers that his private life remain private, but Tuesday on his weekly ESPN Milwaukee radio show he addressed a recent Internet rumor about his sexuality.
Here’s a partial transcript from that portion of the show, hosted by ESPNWisconsin.com’s Jason Wilde:
Wilde: What is the coolest thing about being a celebrity and what’s the least cool thing about being a celebrity?
Rodgers: There’s so many great opportunities as far as the coolness factor, whether it’s working with the MACC Fund or doing these amazing ‘It’s Aaron’ commercials we’ve done with these incredible organizations in the Milwaukee area. That’s been a blast. Obviously, you get to go to some cool events. I’ve been able to host, not host sorry … I’ve been able to present at a couple of award shows. That’s been fun. The NFL honors has been a great show the last couple of years. So those are some cool opportunities. You get to meet some cool people and as long as you don’t geek out like I did when I met Denzel Washington, you’re usually fine.
Wilde: Wait a minute, how did you geek out when you met Denzel Washington?
Rodgers: I just froze. I froze. I did. I didn’t know what to say, and he was so cool. … That was probably one of the worst interactions I’ve ever had with a famous person.
Wilde: You and [Justin] Timberlake are close, right?
Rodgers: Yeah, he sent me a text after the game. When you win, you get a text from a bunch of people. When you lose, nobody [texts]. Mom, Dad maybe, hey you ok? Yeah I’m fine, I’m good. … That’s the cool side, and on the uncool side, I’ve talked about it from time to time, there isn’t a whole lot of separation from your public and private life. You always have to be on at times and occasionally people get upset if you say no to a picture when you’re eating dinner or something, and that’s kind of the hard part. Or if you get crazy rumors that swirl around you from time to time that are just silly.
Wilde: I have no idea what you could be referring to … Oh, you mean the Aaron Rodgers is gay story.
Rodgers: Yeah.
Wilde: So you’re aware of it, you saw this out there?
Rodgers: Yeah, I’m just going to say I’m not gay. I really, really like women. That’s all I can say about that.
Wilde: I would just add this that I’ve gotten to know you for a while, and I know how you feel about social issues. I know where you stand on certain things. I know you’re an intensely private guy, and I didn’t know if we were going to address this or not. I would say this, that the fact that your private life has remained as private as it has throughout the whole process of you becoming a celebrity, I know how important that is to you, but I also know how much maybe sometimes things bother you if maybe people are disrespectful – not toward you but maybe to a group of people, and from my perspective it bothered me that there was almost some feeling of, that it was almost to make you look bad, and it shouldn’t be that way. That’s my own opinion. I was disappointed in that.
Rodgers: Well, I mean there’s always going to be silly stuff out there in the media that you can’t worry too much about, and I don’t. We just keep on trucking, and I like the way my … I think there should be professional is professional and personal is personal, and that’s just how I’m going to keep it.