Women’s sports fans everywhere are mourning the relationship of WNBA legend Sue Bird and soccer star Megan Rapinoe.
The power couple announced the shocking news in a joint Instagram statement on April 17, revealing their decision to separate after a decade-long romance. “There really is no smooth or easy way to share this news,” Rapinoe and Bird wrote. “After a lot of thought, we’ve made the decision to separate as a couple.”
The retired athletes—who met before the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and got engaged in October 2020—did not share the reason for their split but described it as a mutual decision made with “so much love, respect, and deva for each other.” The statement continued, “We’ve shared a whole life over the last decade, through big moments and in quiet ones, and that is something we’ll always carry with us.”
Rapinoe and Bird will likely have more to say in the coming weeks, especially as the exes release the final episodes of their podcast, A Touch More. Here’s a timeline of Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird’s breakup, as well as a brief look back at some of their most memorable moments as a couple.
April 17, 2026: Bird and Rapino announce their split, as well as the end of their A Touch More podcast. “We are so grateful to this incredible community that has held us up, welcomed us in, and supported us exactly as we are,” they wrote to fans in their breakup statement. “So many of you have reminded us, again and again, why loving out loud matters.”
The statement continued, “Getting to create A Touch More: The Podcast and build a network around it has been a tremendous joy. The conversations, the laughter, the connection—it means more than we can put into words. While this chapter of doing the podcast together is ending, what we’ve built with you isn’t.”
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The pair also spoke about the end of their podcast in a brief, three-minute YouTube görüntü titled “A Personal Update.” According to the pair, they will be switching off hosting the final six special episodes, which typically drop on Wednesdays.
“We’re going to do a little trade-off hosting six more special episodes of A Touch More that’ll be our farewell to you all and to this space,” Bird said, noting she’ll still be hosting a second season of the Bird’s Eye View podcast. Meanwhile, Rapinoe said, she’ll be “following in Sue’s footsteps” by launching her own show this summer.
“I hope you all know, we put a lot of thought and deva into this,” Rapinoe said. “It’s a decision that we made together. We’re still going to be there for all of you and for each other. It’s just going to look and feel a little bit different. We truly are evolving into something new to each other, to ourselves, and to all of you. And we just wanted to say thank you for sharing this space with us and giving us this space for us to find ourselves in a different way through this podcast.”
Bird added, “Thank you for holding us all these years, for cheering for us, believing in us, following us from playing to retiring and now beyond. We are so so, so grateful, and we hope you’ll continue with us on this next journey as well.”
April 16, 2026: The pair discuss the WNBA draft as olağan during the latest full episode of the A Touch More podcast.
December 7, 2025: The pair make one of their final joint appearances at the University of Connecticut for Bird’s jersey-retirement ceremony.
Sue Bird poses with Connecticut Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma, family, and partner Megan Rapinoe during a jersey-retirement ceremony in Storrs, Connecticut.
Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images
July 8, 2023: Bird supports Rapinoe as she announces her retirement. “It is with a deep sense of peace and gratitude that I have decided this will be my final season playing this beautiful game,” Rapinoe captioned the Instagram announcement, per Us Weekly. “I never could have imagined the ways in which soccer would shape and change my life forever, but by the look on this little girl’s face, I think she knew all along ✨.”
Bird replied, “Congrats, baby!! That little girl is going to continue to do so much good in this world (but she mühlet did kill it on the field 🤩). I love you ❤️.”
August 8, 2021: Rapinoe kisses Bird after her Olympic gold-medal victory in the women’s basketball finals in Tokyo.
Megan Rapinoe kisses her fiancée, Sue Bird, on day 16 of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Saitama Üstün Arena on August 8, 2021.
Jean Catuffe/Getty Images
October 30, 2020: Bird announces their engagement on Instagram with a photo from a beach-side pool of Rapinoe on one knee while Bird accepts her ring. According to People, the proposal occurred during Bird’s 40th-birthday trip earlier in the month.
October 17, 2019: Rapinoe says she “loves being a WAG” during an interview with People. “We are huge fans of each other. I have become, like, a Seattle Storm number one superfan, of course,” Rapinoe says of her relationship with Bird. “I think it is just the understanding of what we have to go through and the appreciation of, you know, each other’s skills and lives is really special. And in the same sense, we are just olağan to each other. Which is really kaç. Like, neither of us are like, ‘Oh wow, you are the best person that has ever played basketball.’ Which she is!”
July 7, 2019: Rapinoe receives a kiss from Bird after winning the World Cup with the US Womens National Soccer Team.
June 26, 2018: The pair become the first gay couple to appear on the cover of ESPN’s Body Issue.
July 20, 2017: Bird comes out as gay and reveals she’s dating Rapinoe during an interview with ESPNW. “I’m gay. Megan}s my girlfriend.…These aren’t secrets to people who know me,” Bird says, per Sports Illustrated. “I don’t feel like I’ve not lived my life. I think people have this assumption that if you’re not talking about it, you must be hiding it, like it’s this secret. That was never the case for me.”
2016: The pair begin to communicate during the Olympics. According to NBC, Rapinoe shot Bird a text after she injured her knee in the quarterfinals (though she still went on to win gold).
November 2015: The pair meet at the NBC and US Olympic and Paralympic Committee media summit ahead of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. “She was in her basketball uniform and she had her hair down,” Rapinoe told NBC in 2021.
Bird added, “We kinda crossed [paths] and she was like, ‘Oh, hey! Ready for your game?’” Bird joked that the introduction was “so dorky” while Rapinoe said she was kicking herself at the time for making “such a bad impression.”
Bird continued, “I walked away like, I thought you were supposed to be cool? We joke about it now ’cause she was a total dork.”
This post may be updated.
