Former United States goalkeeper Hope Solo spoke out in a podcast four months after she was arrested for driving drunk, saying it was the worst mistake of her life and putting part of the blame on her inability to function due to having no support and postpartum depression.
Solo was arrested March 31 and charged with driving while intoxicated, resisting arrest and misdemeanor child abuse after someone saw Solo passed out in a vehicle with the engine running for more than an hour in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Her 2-year old twins she has with her husband, former NFL player Jerramy Stevens, were with her at the time in the back seat.
Authorities said she also had THC in her system and a blood-alcohol level of 0.24%, three times the legal limit in North Carolina.
Solo entered an alcohol treatment program and last month received a 24-month suspended sentence. She was given credit for her time in rehab, but was fined $2,500 and $600 for the cost of the lab tests.
Solo said on the podcast Hope Solo Speaks that she is trying to move forward with her life. She said after she and her husband moved from Washington to a farm in North Carolina, she turned to alcohol to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and being away from family and friends.
"I didn't think I needed help,” Solo said. “And I certainly wasn't going to ask for it. At the time, I didn't know that I was only doing a disservice to my family. I thought that I could white-knuckle it. But the reality is that nobody gets through life without asking for help. My sense of strength and pride became my two worst enemies. And I found myself living the worst night of my life. I let alcohol get the better of me in this moment on this god-awful day, and I will suffer the consequences for some time."
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Some of the consequences Solo says are dealing with "mommy-shaming" from "trolls on the internet" and the financial costs of her legal troubles.
“My income now will not go directly to my family, which is another layer of guilt that I must work to shed,” Solo said. “I can't drive for an entire year which is a massive inconvenience to my family and is a loss of independence.”
The now 41-year-old Solo was elected to the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame in January, but she asked that the induction be delayed until next year.
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