Photo: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for E.W. Scripps Company
While one women’s-sports power couple is ascending, another is coming to an end. On Friday, Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe announced that they have broken up after ten years together. “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,” the athletes shared in a joint Instagram post with their podcast, A Touch More.
“We are so grateful to this incredible community that has held us up, welcomed us in, and supported us exactly as we are,” they wrote, addressing their podcast’s fans. “So many of you have reminded us, again and again, why loving out loud matters.”
Bird and Rapinoe, two of the all-time greats in basketball and soccer, respectively, announced in 2017 that they had been dating since the year prior. In 2020, they announced their engagement. Since then, their careers have only gotten bigger and more entwined. Bird retired from the WNBA in 2022 after 20 years with the Seattle Storm and joined the team’s ownership group two years later. Rapinoe, arguably the world’s most recognizable female soccer player, retired from the National Women’s Soccer League in 2023. In 2024, they launched A Touch More together.
And the fate of their very popular shared podcast? Shortly after posting their breakup announcement to Instagram, Bird and Rapinoe posted a video to the A Touch More YouTube page, announcing that “it’s going to look a little bit different moving forward.” There will be six more “special episodes” of the podcast before the women go their separate ways, a.k.a. hosting their own individual podcasts, presumably on the same channel. (Children of divorce might recognize this as the “nesting” approach.)
“We’re still going to be there for all of you and for each other,” Rapinoe said. “It’s just going to look and feel a little bit different. We truly are evolving into something new to each other, to ourselves, and to all of you.”
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