New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers watches from the sidelines during a 2023 preseason game. | Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Aaron Rodgers made headlines for unauthorized biography by Ian O’Connor about the NFL superstar quarterback called “Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers.”

Mystery indeed.

One of the most-successful NFL quarterbacks of all time, Rodgers bucks many of the stereotypes of NFL quarterbacks, speaking his mind about politics, often bucking trends made popular in the media. He talks about locking himself in dark cabins and taking drugs.

This is not your father’s Joe Montana.

Now in the book, an episode featuring rumors about Rodgers being gay have resurfaced.

The New Jets quarterback’s answers are not remotely believable.

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To recap: Rodgers had a personal assistant early in his career in Green Bay with whom he was apparently bound at the hip. When the business relationship between the two went south, for various reasons speculation arose that the two had been gay lovers.

Rodgers was pretty silent about the whole affair, except for one interview in which he denied being gay and made sure everyone knew he really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really liked women.

Now, according to reports about the unauthorized biography, Rodgers is claiming that his only issue was that the rumors might affect his “copious” gay friends.

I call bullshit.

The conversation around Rodgers’ orientation erupted in 2013 and 2014. That was the same time the country was in an intense national debate over the legalization of same-sex marriage.

If Rodgers cared so much about his gay friends, why did he — in this moment — abandon the conversation? Why did he not stand up for his gay friends and their relationships?

The answer certainly seems to me to be clear: He didn’t care about his gay friends, and he didn’t care about their loving relationships.

He cared about his image, and he wanted to make sure — first and foremost — that everyone knew he was STRAIGHT STRAIGHT STRAIGHT STRAIGHT STRAIGHT STRAIGHT.

The other issue is personal. And for me — the person who wrote the autobiography of Ryan O’Callaghan, the former NFL offensive lineman who came out as gay — it seems even more telling.

Before the rumors erupted, O’Callaghan had been Rodgers’ offensive tackle at Cal, and the two were very good friends. The two saw each other regularly and, according to O’Callaghan’s book, “My Life On The Line,” they were engaged in conversations about creating a business together.

That was literally the days and weeks before these rumors about Rodgers surfaced.

Then, when those rumors surfaced and Rodgers addressed them, he cut off all communication with O’Callaghan, according to the latter. They’d been talking daily or weekly. Suddenly, Rodgers — who now says his only concern was his gay friends — cut off all communication with his gay friend.

“With no warning, he suddenly cuts off all communication,” O’Callaghan said in ‘My Life On The Line.’ “In the weeks following the holidays, I text him and call him a bunch of times. After that doesn’t get a response, I e-mail him a couple times. We had been communicating regularly, and he was going to finance a million-dollar project that I was going to manage. Now nothing. Zero. Radio silence.

“Some might read this and think Aaron cut off communication with his gay friend when rumors about him being gay came up. This could be the case, but I don’t know for sure.”

Their last communication was almost 11 years ago.

Rodgers cared “so much” about his gay friends that he hasn’t communicated with his best gay friend in 11 years, since these rumors surfaced (and his gay friend personally and privately supported him).

To his credit, Rodgers has spoken out against anti-gay language in and around football. None of this should be construed as him being homophobic. In contrast, I think he is 100% cool with gay people.

Yet the explanation he gives about his reaction to the “gay rumors” seems like a rationalization, made up in his head a decade later defying the reality of events in 2013 and 2014.

It seems clear to me he didn’t care then about the gay community and our fight for equality. It seems he didn’t care about his gay friend, whose phone calls, text messages and emails he refused to respond to.

Rodgers’ rationalization about this entire episode seems like a complete lie. And I’m left wondering, what is the truth.