Hope Solo is taking steps to heal, stating directly to her sizable social media following that she will be heading to rehab to get help for her “challenges” involving alcohol. “I have contacted the Hall of Fame and respectfully requested a postponement of my Hall of Fame induction ceremony to 2023,” Hope’s statement, posted to Twitter and Instagram on April 29, read. “I will be voluntarily entering an in-patient alcohol treatment program to address my challenges with alcohol.”
The Olympic gold medalist, 40, explained that she’s focusing on her health and her family. “At this time, my energies and focus are totally directed to my health, healing and taking care of my family. I want to thank the Hall of Fame for their support and for understanding my decision.” Hope shared her decision almost exactly one month after she was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, with the children she shares with husband Jerramy Stevens, 2-year-old Lozen and Vittorio Stevens, in the car.
The incident happened in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on March 31, and Hope was taken into custody, booked at the Forsyth County detention center, and later released. Hope faces charges of impaired driving (DWI), misdemeanor child abuse, and resisting arrest, and was set to be inducted into the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame on May 21. “Ms. Stevens was processed and subsequently released from the Forsyth County Law Enforcement Detention Center,” the Winston-Salem Police Department’s statement on the matter read. “Based on the impending prosecution, no further information will be released regarding this arrest.”
Hope tweeted a statement from her lawyer, as well. “On the advice of counsel, Hope can’t speak about this situation, but she wants everyone to know that her kids are her life, that she was released immediately and is now at home with her family,” the statement from Rich Nichols read, adding that “the story is more sympathetic than the initial charges suggest, and that she looks forward to her opportunity to defend these charges.”
The retired soccer goalie has faced trouble before, having been arrested for an alleged fight involving both her sister and her nephew back in 2014. At the time, Hope was booked into the South County Correctional Jail in Washington, but the charges were dropped four years later, according to the New York Post. Hope previously gained attention for criticizing soccer for alienating underrepresented communities and calling it a “rich white kids sport,” as well as her involvement in the fight for equal pay in the sport.