Awkward end to Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe's podcast revealed after shock split
The fate of Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe's joint podcast has been revealed following their shock breakup.
The sporting power couple, who had been dating for nearly a decade, announced on Friday that their relationship is over in a bombshell joint statement on social media.
Rapinoe, a two-time World Cup winner with the USA women's soccer team, and WNBA legend Bird insisted the decision was not an easy one after calling time on their 10-year romance.
The sudden split also called into question the future of their popular podcast, 'A Touch More,' which they relaunched in 2024.
After dropping the news of their breakup in a special brief edition of the podcast, they revealed that they would be phasing out their show.
'I hope you all know we put a lot of thought and care into this,' said Rapinoe, who rose to fame as a member of the Women's World Cup team in 2011, 2015 and 2019. 'It's a decision that we made together. We're still going to be there for all of you and for each other. It's just going to look and feel a little bit different.
The fate of Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe's joint podcast has been revealed after their split
The couple announced on Friday that they are going their separate ways after nearly a decade
'We truly are evolving into something new to each other, to ourselves and to all of you, and we just wanted to say thank you for sharing this space with us and giving us this space for us to find ourselves in a different way through this podcast.'
Bird explained that they plan to release six more limited episodes before closing that chapter of their lives as a 'farewell to you all and to this space.'
Moving on from their collaboration, Rapinoe is planning to start her own podcast, and Bird is committed to a second season of her own venture, 'Bird's Eye View.'
The sporting power couple had been dating for nearly a decade after first meeting backstage at a photoshoot for the 2016 Rio Olympics .
The athletes, both gold medal winners in their respective sports, got engaged in October 2020 but never tied the knot.
Rapinoe, 40, first came out in 2012 ahead of representing the USWNT on the Olympic stage at the London Games.
However, Bird, 45, was not publicly open about her sexuality until they went public with their relationship.
The basketball great previously explained to the Seattle Times: 'I think a lot of people who were like me at the time felt: "Yes, I was living my life, but I don't have to come out publicly." You kinda say, "Well, straight people don't have to come out." I understand now that's not necessarily the right way to look at it.'
The couple had been together for almost 10 years after meeting at the 2016 Rio Olympics
Despite a lengthy engagement, Bird and Rapinoe never exchanged vows in their relationship
She revealed to the newspaper: 'Megan and I would have conversations about it, and she opened my eyes to another way of looking at it, which is that in today's time, in today's society, it's still important to kind of say it to make it the norm.'
Despite getting together shortly after the Rio Olympics, where they were both competing for Team USA - Rapinoe in soccer and Bird in basketball - they did not go public with their romance until the following year.
In an interview with People in 2019, Rapinoe gushed over her then-Seattle Storm star girlfriend.
'We are huge fans of each other. I have become, like, a Seattle Storm number one superfan, of course,' Rapinoe said.
'I think it is just the understanding of what we have to go through and the appreciation of, you know, each other's skills and lives is really special. And in the same sense, we are just normal to each other. Which is really nice. Like, neither of us are like, "Oh wow you are the best person that has ever played basketball." Which she is!'
Three years later, Rapinoe popped the question in 2020, shortly after Bird won her fourth WNBA championship with the Seattle Storm.
Between the two of them, the duo have a total of six Olympic gold medals - five for Bird and one for Rapinoe. The soccer star also has a bronze from the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Rapinoe previously got engaged to singer Sera Cahoone in 2015 but they ultimately broke up, and she has also dated her fellow soccer star Sarah Walsh.
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