Hope Solo erupted in New York on Wednesday when the World Cup-winning goalkeeper was spotted strolling through a busy terminal at LaGuardia Airport in what has become an increasingly rare public sighting of the American soccer legend.
It’s been more than two years since the Solo star was discovered by police sleeping in her running car at a Walmart in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with her two-year-old twins sitting in the back. She would eventually be arrested and taken into police custody, where her blood alcohol level was found to be three times the legal limit. She also had THC in her system, according to a police report.
Solo ultimately agreed to plead guilty to DWI in exchange for prosecutors dropping charges of resisting a public official and child abuse. A 30-day jail sentence was also dropped because Solo agreed to spend that time in rehab.
“I let alcohol get the best of me in a decision I will never live down,” she said months later on her “Hope Solo Speaks” podcast.
The Washington State native was the subject of a 2024 Netflix documentary, “Untold: Hope Solo vs US Soccer,” and briefly hosted the aforementioned podcast, but was otherwise noticeably absent from public life in 2024.
Hope Solo makes a rare appearance when she arrives at LaGuardia Airport in New York City
Solo has a lower profile in 2024, although she was the subject of a Netflix documentary
She was previously an outspoken advocate for equal pay between the U.S. women’s national team and their male counterparts, publicly feuding with former team captain Megan Rapinoe. Solo also has a high-profile marriage to former Seattle Seahawks tight end and first-round draft pick Jerramy Stevens, with whom she has the two twins.
But it was her arrest in North Carolina in 2022 that seems to have changed everything.
The video from that night, published by Queen City News, shows a police officer knocking on the driver’s window of the car before a startled Solo responds, “Oh, my God.”
She is asked, ‘Hello, can you open the door for me? Are you okay? People were a little concerned about you guys sleeping here and wanted to make sure you were okay.” Solo claims she quit and claims her quit was, “Umm… because I took a nap.”
When asked how much to drink, the World Cup winner and two-time Olympic gold medalist says, “It’s okay if I…” before leaving. She later responds to the same question “I haven’t had anything to drink” and “I’m fine, thank you sir,” adding that she has consumed “zero alcohol” while scrolling through her phone.
Solo then takes a phone call.
“I was just trying to take a nap because I’m so damn tired from driving. Yeah, I mean, I stopped in a Walmart parking lot to take a nap. I have no idea why he’s here, but hold on,” Solo says into her phone.
After refusing a breathalyzer test, Solo is pulled from the car while her two-year-old twins cry in the backseat.
Hope Solo is seen on the night of her DWI arrest in new footage released in 2022
Solo refused to take a breath test before being taken into police custody in North Carolina
Solo with the adidas golden glove award after the 2015 World Cup final between USA and Japan
Solo is pictured with her husband, ex-Seahawks star Jerramy Stevens, and their twins
She is later handcuffed after she kept telling officers she was just taking a nap.
In the aftermath of the incident, Solo decided to postpone her induction ceremony into the US Soccer Hall of Fame as she entered rehab. She later admitted that she had suffered a nervous breakdown while being forced to leave her family behind to seek treatment.
“When I found myself seeking treatment, waiting for the justice system, dealing with international and national headlines, having to cancel my Hall of Fame induction, it seemed like an embarrassment even greater than that of shame,” she said. she on August 18, 2022 in her podcast.
‘There were many days and nights of crying uncontrollably before I had my very first panic attack. The thought of abandoning my family to their fate was almost unbearable.”
“Today,” she said on her podcast, “I am grateful for my thirty days away to read, think, pray, mediate, and learn.”
Solo continued, “There is no shame if we struggle with alcohol or addiction. Thank you to the beautiful men and women who taught me this.”
A native of Richland, Washington, the 6-foot-2 Solo was a gifted goal scorer before enrolling at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she eventually switched to goaltending.
The decision turned out to be a good one, as she dominated in net for the U.S. women from 2000 to 2016, winning a World Cup and two Olympic gold medals along the way.
She also has problems off the field, including a 2014 arrest on assault charges against her half-sister and cousin.