Soccer star Megan Rapinoe and WNBA legend Sue Bird have announced their split after a decade as a couple.
“There really is no smooth or easy way to share this news,” the pair wrote in a joint statement shared via social media on Friday, April 17. “After a lot of thought, we’ve made the decision to separate as a couple.”
The statement continued, “This hasn’t been an easy decision, but it’s one we’ve made together, with so much love, respect and care for each other. We’ve shared a whole life over the last decade, through big moments and in quiet ones, and that is something we’ll always carry with us.”
“We’re so grateful to this incredible community that has held us up, welcomed us in, and supported us exactly as we are,” the couple added. “So many of you have reminded us, again and again, why loving out loud matters.”
Rapinoe, 40, and Bird, 45, also announced their podcast, “A Touch More,” would be ending.
“Thank you for being with us through all of it … it means the world to us,” they wrote.
The couple met at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. When Bird came out as a lesbian in 2017, she revealed that Rapinoe was her girlfriend.
Rapinoe and Bird got engaged in 2020, though they never wed.
“What Megan helped me understand was that, yes, what I was already doing was great, living authentically,” Bird told Time in 2021. “But it was important to say it, because the more people that come out, that’s where you get to the point where nobody has to come out. Where you can just live. And it’s not a story.”
While the couple’s wedding never came to fruition, they had been planning it for years.
“We’re kind of toying with having a wedding in Mexico maybe,” Bird told People in 2022.
She added, “We also talked about what we wanted the attire to be. I think … we would want people to come as themselves more than anything. More than anything, I think for both me and Megan, that’s really important in our own lives. So we’d want that for our guests as well.”
When Bird had her jersey retired by the WNBA’s Seattle Storm in 2023, Rapinoe took the microphone to introduce her fiancée, calling her “simply the best.”
“I will forever miss it, and that’s OK,” Bird said of her basketball career during her speech. “I think some people try to avoid missing it when they’re in my seat up here, and the reality is I’m always going to miss it. There’s going to be days — tomorrow, a year from now, five years from now — where I’ll probably even cry because I miss it and get emotional because I miss it. That’s just a part of it.”
