Former soccer star Hope Solo is opening up about recently about nearly losing her life after suffering a miscarriage.
The self-proclaimed "polarizing" figure, 37, has had a slew of incidents off the field, but in an interview with Elle magazine, she focuses on her life now with her husband Jerramy Stevens.
In the article, she says that early last year, she and her husband had been trying for kids, had gotten pregnant, then miscarried.
(MORE: Serena Williams opens up about harrowing medical ordeal she faced after giving birth to her daughter)“@HopeSolo is not tied up in a nice, neat package with a bow, at all,” says Lesle Gallimore, her college coach. “Don’t ever be surprised by anything she says. That’s rule number one.” The #USWNT legend returns to #FIFAWWC and more outspoken than ever: https://t.co/dOo7AO7jwV
— ELLE Magazine (US) (@ELLEmagazine) June 12, 2019
But it wasn't until she was still in pain a week after the miscarriage that she found out she had been carrying twins and one had been ectopic.
According to the Mayo Clinic, an ectopic pregnancy is when the fertilized egg "grows outside the main cavity of the uterus" and that "an ectopic pregnancy can't proceed normally."
"The fertilized egg can't survive, and the growing tissue may cause life-threatening bleeding, if left untreated," the clinic adds.
Solo said she, in fact, was in danger and could have lost her life.
(MORE: Hope Solo Talks to Robin Roberts About Domestic Violence Assault Allegations, Soccer Suspension)“The doctor said I was hours from dying,” she told Elle. “They ended up having to remove my fallopian tube.”
All the while, Solo had been running for United States Soccer Federation president and had to give a speech days after her miscarriage.
A big part of her platform and something she still fights for today is equal pay for both men and women in soccer.
“That speech took a lot. Even before all that, it would have taken courage,” she says of speaking in public days after the serious health scare.
The article adds that she's since begun taking IVF treatments in hopes of someday soon starting a family.
