Everything is fair in love and sports! Hope Solo and Jerrami Stevens have weathered many storms during their romance, including numerous arrests between them, but they are still strong.
The former U.S. national team goaltender and former NFL player first crossed paths when both were student athletes at the University of Washington. Their romantic relationship, however, did not flourish until they consolidated their careers —Solo was a football star, and Stevens played for the Seattle Seahawks.
The duo’s whirlwind romance surprised some when they decided to tie the knot two months after reuniting in the fall of 2012. However, their loud quarrel the night before the wedding attracted even more attention.
“We thought everyone could just be happy for us,” Solo told Elle in 2019, reflecting on the couple’s run—in with police officers before the wedding. “That was stupid.”
The three-time Olympic champion explained that the police were called to her home at 4 a.m. after she and Stevens’ “assholes” had an argument. When police arrived at the scene, Solo was bleeding, so her then fiance was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence.
After a misunderstanding, Stevens was released from prison without charges, and the couple continued the ceremony. “It was the most triumphant day,” Solo recalled Elle.
Unfortunately, the stigma surrounding the couple did not subside so quickly. In the following years, Solo and Stevens had their own setbacks when it came to law and sports.
The Washington native was suspended from the U.S. women’s national soccer team in 2015 shortly after her husband was arrested for drunk driving in Los Angeles. Stevens was sentenced to 30 days in prison, four years of probation and was required to register for an alcohol program after he refused to contest charges of drunk driving.
The following year, Solo’s athletic career came to a halt after she said that the Swedish Olympic team played like a “bunch of cowards” during the quarterfinals of the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016, in which the U.S. team lost. Her comments led to the fact that the US Soccer Federation terminated her contract.
After hanging up her cleats, Solo and Stevens faced even more grief in 2018 when she suffered a miscarriage of twins. Two years later, the couple’s luck turned against them when they had twins, a boy and a girl.
“We are so grateful for all the love and support from family, friends, nurses and doctors, even though our children are more familiar with masks and Zoom calls than we are!” Solo signed a tribute on Instagram in March 2021 in honor of her baby’s first birthday. “We feel love, they feel love, and every day has been as exhausting as it has been rewarding.”
A year later, the family was again in the spotlight, but for a completely different reason. Solo was arrested in March 2022 for drunk driving while her children were in the car. The case continues.
