Ashlyn Harris is shedding light on the struggles that led to the end of her marriage to fellow soccer star Ali Krieger. After four years of marriage and two children together, the couple announced their split in October 2023, but Harris has now opened up about the deeper issues that were present long before their separation.
Speaking on her Naked Sports podcast, Ashlyn reflected on how she coped during the final stages of their relationship, describing a sense of detachment that her therapist immediately identified.
“It was my ability to sit and suffer… my ability to serve other people before my own wants and needs, which I genuinely think probably kept me in that marriage for as long as it did,” she explained.
Despite her struggles, Ashlyn revealed that she tried various ways to salvage the relationship. “I started trying all these things, like, let’s do an open marriage,” she admitted, adding that this was an approach she quickly realized wasn’t right for her. “I’m like, that’s just not even me, dude. That was like, my last attempt of, you know, if I’m not getting what I want and we want to keep this together.”
A lack of intimacy became one of the key challenges in their relationship, something Ashlyn said spanned their entire marriage.
“I think she loved the game so much and all she knew was how to sacrifice her life for the game. Then when you add children, which is a whole different layer. I just felt like I wasn’t a priority,” Ashlyn shared. “I didn’t feel that sense of connection, whether emotional or physical. It was soccer, job, kids, and then somewhere down the line it was like, ‘Okay, what about me?’”
Her feelings of neglect were difficult to reconcile, and she admitted to struggling with shame over the situation. “I felt so embarrassed and I felt so much shame that I didn’t know how to tell people that, like, oh, my wife doesn’t want to touch me,” she said.
When asked if Ali would contest her perspective, Ashlyn responded confidently. “No. She can’t say that because we weren’t intimate the entire part of our marriage. So, I mean, the facts are just the facts,” she stated.
Since the divorce, Ashlyn has moved forward in her personal life. Her current girlfriend, actress Sophia Bush, has spoken publicly about how she was the one to make the first move in their relationship.
