How Aaron Hernandez's Double Life Veered Fatally Out of Control

Aaron Hernandez's Fiancée Slams "Cruel" Jokes About Late NFL Star

Perhaps there's nary mode to intercept fate, but a look astatine the trajectory of Aaron Hernandez's life is simply a survey successful what-could-have-been-if-only moments.

But during truthful overmuch of his existence, which ended astatine 27 erstwhile helium died by termination successful a situation cell connected April 19, 2017, 2 years aft being found blameworthy of murder, those off-ramps not taken were brushed to the broadside by his quality to play football. The Bristol, Conn., autochthonal was portion of a 2009 nationalist title-winning squad with Tim Tebow astatine University of Florida and played successful the 2012 Super Bowl for the New England Patriots, catching 8 passes from Tom Brady successful 1 of the team's uncommon losing efforts successful the large game.

Aaron signed a five-year hold worthy $40 cardinal successful August 2012 and became a begetter months later, sharing a Nov. 6 day with his and fiancée Shayanna Jenkins' girl Avielle Janelle Jenkins Hernandez.

And past his beingness violently unraveled. His downfall was of people shocking successful the moment, but upon person inspection it wasn't that illogical of an outcome.

The anthology series, the latest offering from shaper Ryan Murphy's sprawling TV universe, is adapted from the Boston Globe-Wondery podcast Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc., which delved into however the athlete's communicative dovetailed with larger issues, including sports and personage culture, leader worship, toxic masculinity and homophobia.

Among the pivotal destructive events successful his life, Aaron had worshiped his ain abusive dada and past mislaid him abruptly astatine 16, Dennis Hernandez dying unexpectedly pursuing hernia country successful January 2006.

Moreover, the Globe's posthumous heavy dive into Aaron's beingness uncovered that helium had talked arsenic an big astir being molested astatine a young age. Brother Jonathan Hernandez wrote successful his 2018 book that Aaron was 6 erstwhile an older lad archetypal abused him. Aaron aboriginal told their parent Terri Hernandez from prison, helium wrote, but erstwhile it happened Jonathan had "no thought what helium had conscionable been through."

To compound matters, researchers astatine Boston University's CTE Center said they recovered textbook signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy successful Aaron's brain. The condition, which tin lone beryllium diagnosed posthumously, has been linked to symptoms ranging from temper swings and convulsive impulses to dementia successful athletes who suffered repetition caput trauma.

The consensus, however, is that it wasn't any one thing that led to Aaron being convicted of fatally shooting 27-year-old Odin Lloyd on the greeting of July 17, 2013. Or deciding to extremity his ain beingness successful 2017, days aft being acquitted successful a 2012 treble homicide lawsuit and portion his erstwhile condemnation was being appealed. 

"There's benignant of an amalgamation of factors that created this outcome," Josh Rivera, who plays Hernandez successful American Sports Story, exclusively told E!. "And there's a batch of antithetic entities and taste relationships that alteration this benignant of behaviour successful a multitude of antithetic industries, but this evidently focuses connected nonrecreational athletes. These are young men who get precise celebrated and travel into a batch of money, and that has its uses to radical connected the outside" who don't person the athletes' champion interests astatine heart.

And Hernandez, the histrion continued, indispensable person faced "an immense magnitude of pressure" to perform.

In 2007, Scout.com named him the apical choky extremity among precocious schoolhouse recruits. After helium initially committed to play successful his location authorities for University of Connecticut, Florida's then-coach Urban Meyer visited the 17-year-old personally to woo him to Gainesville. 

Though a first-team All-American successful 2009, Hernandez wasn't picked up by the Patriots successful the 2010 NFL Draft until the 4th round—a determination wide attributed to his off-the-field issues, including aggregate failed cause tests (testing affirmative for marijuana) and his alleged relation successful a 2007 barroom combat (for which constabulary wanted him charged with felony artillery but prosecution was deferred).

"If helium had much clip to mature and turn up earlier going to college, that might've changed a lot," American Sports Story producer Nina Jacobson told E!, listing much if-only moments successful Hernandez's life. "Had helium stayed astatine Florida longer arsenic a subordinate to mature earlier helium went to the NFL, that mightiness person changed  things. And if helium had faced existent consequences—if helium had been benched each clip helium got successful trouble, truthful that helium could lone play if helium could get it unneurotic disconnected of the field—that might've changed rather a fewer things arsenic well."

Norbert Leo Butz, who plays longtime Patriots manager Bill Belichick (speaking to reporters a period aft Hernandez was charged with murder, the famously undemonstrative Belichik called it "a bittersweet time connected truthful galore levels"), concurred that the bid is yet not astir conscionable Hernandez oregon football.

"Aaron is simply a tragic fig and shot was his game, that's what made him famous," the two-time Tony Award victor told E!. But the amusement is successful portion "about our responsibility, our complicity arsenic a civilization and arsenic a society, however we lionize and enactment connected a pedestal our large athletes and our large actors—and past besides sometimes consciousness a small judgmental of them. In hindsight, we similar to spot them torn down."

At the aforesaid time, Hernandez inactive has a bequest successful the signifier of his daughter, Avielle.

"I can't conscionable beryllium young and reckless Aaron anymore," helium told reporters successful 2012 erstwhile the kid was 2 days old. "I'm going to effort to bash the close things, go a bully father, and beryllium raised similar I was raised."

He was arrested connected suspicion of execution 7 months later. But portion prosecutors would inevitably overgarment him arsenic a cold-blooded slayer who deserved to walk the remainder of his beingness successful prison, the memories from loved ones who saw Aaron's humanity person kept his communicative from being excessively casual to judge.

In American Sports Story, "we person the luxury of being capable to research the nuance of these relationships and the conversations down closed doors that we don't needfully cognize each about," Jaylen Barron, who plays Aaron's fiancée Shayanna, exclusively told E!. 

The histrion was admittedly taken by Shayanna's devotion to Aaron passim everything that happened.

"I conscionable loved however passionate she was astir him and however helium was to her," Barron said. "And it mightiness not beryllium the emblematic emotion communicative that radical mightiness hold with, but it was their ain idiosyncratic and analyzable love. And she accepted him for who helium was completely."

Whatever that was, exactly.

"This was a communicative astir authenticity," Zicherman mused. "We all, arsenic we travel of age, conflict to fig retired who we are, and immoderate of america find it quicker than others. Some of america ne'er find it."

"In the satellite of football," helium added, Aaron "could not conscionable beryllium who helium wanted to beryllium oregon astatine slightest research who helium wanted to be."

As shaper Jacobson enactment it, Aaron was "trying to find a abstraction to inhabit successful the satellite and having nary spot to instrumentality the parts that don't acceptable into that identity." There's that consciousness of "feeling mislaid and unsocial and isolated, and having to suppress truthful overmuch of yourself until yet each of those illusions illness and you implode from these fractures successful your identity."

And it's earthy to privation Aaron to beryllium a little less human arsenic well. 

"There was ever a hostility wrong us, due to the fact that of people we remembered the murders," recalled Boston Globe Magazine newsman Patricia Wen, who arsenic Spotlight Team exertion oversaw the paper's extended 2018 probe into Aaron's beingness that included the Gladiator podcast. "You remembered the benignant of harm helium did to truthful galore different lives. Meanwhile, we would beryllium learning astir his puerility and commencement to consciousness sympathetic."

But, she told E!, "I deliberation each of america person this quality prime of, we privation to travel retired [feeling] 1 mode oregon the other. We either similar you oregon we don't similar you. You're evil oregon you're good."

As Zicherman enactment it, "I thought I knew the story, and past I work the Spotlight piece."

—Reporting by Nikaline McCarley

American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez premieres Sept. 17 astatine 10 p.m. connected FX. New episodes watercourse the adjacent time connected Hulu.