Soccer star Megan Rapinoe lost her half-brother Michael to alcoholism last year, she revealed on her podcast last week.
Rapinoe hosted Abby Wambach on the “A Touch More” podcast — previously co-hosted with ex-partner Sue Bird — last week and opened up about her loss. Wambach and Rapinoe were together romantically while USWNT teammates.
“I went home last year after my older brother Michael died,” Rapinoe said. “He had a long battle with alcoholism…it was sad.”
Wambach shared a similar experience of losing a sibling.
Her oldest brother, Peter G. Wambach Jr., died in December 2023 due to complications from a heart attack. He was 51.
Including Michael, Rapinoe has five siblings — older brother Brian, fraternal twin sister Rachael, half-sister Jenny and another sister.
She went on to discuss characteristics she shared with her lost brother.
“I see the obsession and compulsion and addiction in myself and in him too,” Rapinoe shared.
“It’s like you’re searching for something. And I was thinking so much while I was home, like, ‘Wow, I can’t remember the last time I was home for this long, not for a holiday or wedding or something.’”
While this is the first time Rapinoe has spoken about losing Michael, she has opened up about Brian’s drug addiction in the past.
In her memoir “One Life,” published in 2020, Rapinoe reflected on the moment her parents told her and her siblings that Brian was arrested for possession of meth and would go to a juvenile detention center.
She also shared that he later went to prison at 18 for stealing a car, and was then in and out of jail for the next two decades.
After helping USWNT to their second straight World Cup, Rapinoe addressed Brian directly.
“Just one thing. Happy birthday Brian. I love you so much,” Rapinoe said, blowing a kiss to the camera.
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