The legacy of former NFL superstar Brett Favre is as messy and tangled as his numerous scandals, which all get unpacked in a new Netflix documentary.
Untold: The Fall of Favre, which premiered on Tuesday, May 20, dissects the highs and lows of Favre’s career, both on and off the football field.
The documentary dives deep into the alleged sex scandal involving Favre, 55, and former New York Jets reporter Jenn Sterger, his tumultuous relationships with both his late father, Irvin, and his former teammate Aaron Rodgers and the recent welfare scandal in his home state of Mississippi that brought Favre to testify before Congress.
For a recap of the most compelling moments from Untold: The Fall of Favre, keep reading.
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Jenn Sterger
The bulk of Untold: The Fall of Favre focuses on the former quarterback’s alleged relationship with Sterger, a former reporter for the New York Jets.
Sterger, 41, claims Favre sent her a series of explicit text messages, social media messages and voicemails during his time on the team in 2008.
“I was at a game and someone walked up to me and they said, ‘What would you say if I told you Brett Favre wanted your phone number?’” Sterger alleges in the documentary. “I said, ‘I think I like my job. And I look a lot like his wife.’”
Favre has been married to his wife, Deanna Favre, since 1996. The couple share two daughters: Brittany, 36, and Breleigh, 25.
Shortly after, Sterger claimed she received MySpace messages from an account named Screaming Lord Byron.
The messages were allegedly sent from an individual claiming to be “new to the team with gray hair” who was interested in meeting up with Sterger.
“I genuinely thought I was being Punk’d by my male coworkers because that’s something that happened all the time,” Sterger said.
Sterger then allegedly started receiving suggestive text messages from an unknown individual, who said things like “come over 2nite?” and offered to send Sterger a car.
As the text message barrage continued, Sterger started receiving voicemails.
“The voicemails are definitely when I was like, ‘Oh, I’m in serious trouble here,’” Sterger said. “Unless somebody knew how to do a really good Brett Favre impression.”
Untold plays one of the alleged voicemails, with a voice that sounds like Favre’s, allegedly telling Sterger he’s “going back to the hotel” and that he’d “love to have you come over tonight.”
After Sterger says she declined Favre’s advances, he allegedly sent her a picture of his penis.
At the end of the season, Sterger’s contract with the Jets was not renewed. “Shocker,” she says in the documentary.
“I kind of went into hiding,” Sterger recalls. “I just wanted to put the whole experience behind me. It was too humiliating to talk to people about what happened.”
However, Sterger later opened up to former Deadspin editor-in-chief A.J. Daulerio about the Favre accusations in 2010. The virtual conversation was “completely off the record,” Sterger claims.
Sterger dropped a hint about “what she went through” during her time with the Jets.
“He got excited, and I realized I had overshared,” Sterger says.
Against her will, Daulerio decided to run the story about Sterger’s alleged interactions with Favre.
Once the story was released, Sterger said the aftermath “destroyed my life.”
“I think one of the reasons why it’s so hard for people to have any empathy for me on the Internet is because I’m just a picture to them,” Sterger explains in the documentary. “And he was Brett Favre.”
When asked about the allegations about his conduct with Sterger after the Deadspin article was published, Favre said, “I’m not getting into that.”
Mississippi Welfare Scandal
Untold examines Favre’s alleged involvement in the largest welfare scandal in Mississippi’s history, including claims that he helped misallocate funds meant to assist the poorest residents of his home state.
In text messages and documents obtained by CBS News in 2020, Favre allegedly used millions of dollars in welfare funds to help erect a new volleyball stadium at his alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi, where his daughter Breleigh was on the team.
Favre also allegedly received $1.1 million for speaking engagements that he is alleged to have never completed and roughly $2 million for Prevacus, a company developing a concussion drug in which Favre was the top outside investor and stockholder.
The quarterback paid the money for the speaking engagements back, but he allegedly did not return the $730,000 in interest that the Mississippi Department of Human Services says he owes.
Favre has denied having any knowledge about the wrongdoing, which he reiterated during an appearance before Congress in September 2024. During the hearing, Favre also revealed that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
He remains a defendant in a civil lawsuit filed by the Mississippi Department of Human Services to recover misappropriated funds. Favre also denies any civil wrongdoing.
In 2023, Favre filed a defamation lawsuit against Mississippi Auditor Shad White for allegations made about Favre during media appearances and then later in White’s 2024 book, “Mississippi Swindle: Brett Favre and the Welfare Scandal that Shocked America.”
The lawsuit alleged White falsely accused Favre of stealing the welfare money in the book, as well as during media appearances.
The Mississippi Supreme Court denied White’s appeal to dismiss the lawsuit on May 9, 2025. The suit now heads to Hinds County Circuit Court.
“The facts of this case have not changed and Auditor White will continue to defend himself from this ridiculous and frivolous lawsuit,” White’s office said in a statement to ESPN.
Favre also filed a defamation lawsuit against ESPN’s Pat McAfee and former NFL player and podcast host Shannon Sharpe in February 2023. The suit against McAfee was dropped in May 2023, while the suit against Sharpe was tossed out by a judge in 2024.
Us Weekly has reached out to Favre for comment.
Former NFL quarterback Michael Vick, who spent 21 months in prison for his role in an illegal dog fighting ring, called out some of the hypocrisy with the way Favre has been treated in the documentary.
“People go to jail for stealing money every day,” Vick, 44, says. “If it’s that important, the right institutions can get involved. But some people are untouchable in certain ways. And that’s just the way it is.”
Vick added, “I just think that’s how the system is rigged. Some situations have to be played out in court, some have to be played out in the public.”
Aaron Rodgers
The Green Bay Packers’ decision to draft quarterback Aaron Rodgers in 2005 caused all hell to break loose within the organization.
“When Ted Thompson, who was the general manager at the time, drafted Aaron, that was it,” legendary Wisconsin sports radio host Bill Michaels says in the documentary. “That was the beginning of the end.”
With his heir apparent now on the roster, Favre saw the writing regarding the future of his career on the wall.
The season after Rodgers was drafted, the Packers went 4-12 and Favre’s once carefree attitude within the organization began to change.
“He stopped being as available as he had been previously,” Green Bay Post Gazette reporter Dylan Tomlinson recalls in the documentary. “You didn’t really see him except in passing. He wasn’t in the locker room with the rest of the team. There would be some people who were like, ‘Yeah, he’s not the same player he used to be.’ But other people would be like, ‘How dare you ever criticize Brett Favre?’”
Favre announced his retirement in March 2008, though later reverted course and indicated he still wanted to play in the NFL. In August 2008, Favre was traded from the Packers to the New York Jets.
He played one season in New York before ending his 20-year NFL career with two seasons with the Minnesota Vikings — a noted rival of the Packers. Favre officially retired in January 2011.
Irvin Favre
Favre’s father, Irvin, played a pivotal role in his son’s development as a football player.
Irvin was Brett’s high school football coach at Hancock North Central High School in Kiln, Mississippi. But once Brett made it to the NFL, some of his father’s old coaching habits proved too hard to shake.
“We would talk to Irv after the games and we’d say, ‘Man, he went 27-for-35 and he had 325 yards, three touchdowns and a pick,’” Michaels recalls in the documentary. “And Irv would look at us and go, ‘Can you believe that interception he threw?’ He would just criticize him. Because that’s Irv. He was the coach.”
Brett and his father’s unique relationship was exemplified when Brett and the Packers won Super Bowl XXXI in 1997.
“After they won the Super Bowl, Brett got Irv a ring and gave it to him,” Michaels says. “Irv got a little emotional and left the room and called his friends and said, ‘Can you believe what Brett did?’ But never said thank you to Brett.”
Irvin died in 2003 after suffering a heart attack while driving in Mississippi. He was 58 years old.
According to Michaels, the sudden death of his father changed Brett.
“I think Brett had a certain level of non-accountability when he became Brett Favre,” Michaels explained. “But once Irv passed, he was the only one in charge of him. And I think that’s maybe where things got a little off the rails.”
Untold: The Fall of Favre is available to stream now on Netflix.
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