Aaron Hernandez was scared of telling his father he was homosexual as he would regularly beat him with a belt
Aaron Hernandez's father would have beaten it "out of him" if the player ever told him about his sexuality, the NFL star's brother, Jonathan Hernandez, has said in a new television interview. Jonathan also talked about how Aaron and he endured their father's abuse when they were growing up. Aaron, the youngest National Football League player in 2010, was found guilty of first-degree murder in 2015 after he shot and killed Odin Lloyd, the boyfriend of his fiancée’s sister. Two years later, on April 19, 2017, Hernandez was found dead in his prison cell at the age of 27. He was serving a life sentence when he took his life by hanging himself. Post his death, there were multiple speculations made about the NFL star's sexuality - the primary being that he was gay and feared his sexuality being outed.
Jonathan, in the latest interview with Dr. Oz, delved into his and Aaron's relationship with their father Dennis Hernandez, stating that his brother would not have been "able to finish his sentence" if he'd ever gathered enough courage to break the news of his conflicted sexuality to their father. Dennis was known for his machismo in the local community and was called the "king" owing to the respect he commanded.
Jonathan, in the new interview, was asked: "If Aaron had gone to your father and said, 'I have conflicted thoughts on my sexuality,' what would your father have said?"
A visibly emotional Jonathan replied with: "I don't know if he would have been able to finish his sentence. I don't know at all, I really don't. I can't imagine him even being able to — or my dad would have thought he could beat that out of him." Jonathan also relayed instances of abuse both the brothers faced at their father's hands who had the proclivity of resorting to a belt. He recalled how he would often blow on Aaron's wounds after Dennis was done beating them.
"I don't think beat is really even the word that can be expressed when you literally have to blow on your brother's wounds because of the creases of a belt or hand-print in your body, and the burning sensation it has," he said.
"You now have a rule that in your household, you can get beat, but you stay away from the face, so other people can't notice." Regardless of the abuse, the NFL star respected his father and aspired to be like him, however, Aaron felt lost after his father's death. The player was 16 at the time, his father's passing was the moment his life changed and he began going astray.