The Story Behind Aaron Rodgers’s Path From Beloved NFL Star to Most Polarizing Player

Good Vibes Only • RFK Jr.’s Little Hissy Fit • Tim Walz’s Truck [View in your browser]( | [Update your preferences](newsletter=vf) [Vanity Fair Hive logo image]( The Story Behind Aaron Rodgers’s Path From Beloved NFL Star to Most Polarizing Player Good morning. It’s hard to believe now, but Aaron Rodgers didn’t used to be the contrarian he is today. In fact, not too long ago, he was one of the NFL’s most esteemed stars. In Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers, biographer Ian O’Connor traces Rodgers’s stormy family history and his transformation from beloved sports celebrity to “the most compelling and polarizing figure in professional football, hands down.” Tom Kludt [spoke to]( O’Connor for VF about Rodgers’s estrangement from his family and what it was like to sit down with Rodgers for this book, including the tense exchange they had about the COVID vaccine. Elsewhere, we are preparing for Kamala Harris’s good-vibes-only Democratic National Convention. On the ground in Chicago, Eric Lutz [previews]( the energy we should expect to see onstage next week. And, on Inside the Hive, MSNBC analyst Anand Giridharadas [speaks with]( Brian Stelter about Harris’s motive for putting out a compelling and joy-forward message: “You have to compete with authoritarianism by doing some of the things it does: by commanding attention, by catering to feeling, by making people feel like they can see a future.” Plus, Bess Levin [updates]( us on the latest Robert F. Kennedy Jr. drama: The independent presidential candidate threw a huge tantrum in response to Harris ignoring his requests for a meeting. Thanks for reading. [Image may contain: Aaron Rodgers, Baseball Cap, Cap, Clothing, Hat, Adult, Person, People, Face, Head, and Photography]( [The Story Behind Aaron Rodgers’s Path From Beloved NFL Star to Most Polarizing Player]( By [Tom Kludt]( [Biographer Ian O’Connor talks to Vanity Fair about the roots of Rodgers’s family estrangement—“death by a thousand cuts”—and the Jets QB’s regret over claiming he had been “immunized” against COVID-19: “He told me, I should have told the truth.”]( [Read more button](   [Kamala Harris’s Campaign Is Bringing Good Vibes Only to the 2024 DNC: “You Can’t Buy It. You Can’t Fake It”]( By [Eric Lutz]( [Democrats are riding a wave of “genuine energy” to Chicago next week, says Senator Dick Durbin, which could offer the veep a vital boost in the home stretch of the election: “I can understand why Donald Trump’s worried.”]( [Read more button](   [Sweet Emotion: How the Harris-Walz Ticket Wields Joy Against Donald Trump]( By [Brian Stelter]( [On the latest episode of Inside the Hive, MSNBC analyst Anand Giridharadas discusses why the positivity around Harris is taking all the oxygen away from Trump’s frightening ambitions. “Fascism’s a f--king bore,” he says. “We have to show what it would feel like to be alive.”]( [Read more button](   [Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Throws Sad Little Hissy Fit After Harris Ignores His Attempt to Score a Position in Her Cabinet]( By [Bess Levin]( [Nothing says presidential material like a post-spurning tantrum.]( [Read more button](   [Of Course Tim Walz Unwinds by Tinkering With His Vintage American Truck]( By [Brett Berk]( [Like the Minnesota governor, the 1979 International Harvester Scout is an honest product of the Midwest.]( [Read more button](   Get on the list Subscribe to our Hollywood newsletter for your essential industry and awards-season news, every day. [Sign Up Now](   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [LinkedIn](   This e-mail was sent to you by The Hive. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, vanityfair@newsletter.vf.com, to your address book. View our [Privacy Policy]( [Unsubscribe]( Sent from Condé Nast, 1 World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007 Copyright © 2024 Condé Nast