Feature image of Ashlyn Harris, who released an w s Instagram statement that she did not cheat on her ex-wife Ali Krieger, by Ira L. Black via Corbis/Getty Images
The weeks following the announcement of Ali Krieger and Ashlyn Harris’s divorce were a whirlwind, and many emotions were experienced throughout the community as we processed the news that Ashlyn was dating Sophia Bush and then that Ali was in her Lemonade era and then Ali won the NWSL championships. Fans and friends rallied around Ali to support her as stories of the divorce and of her ex being in a relationship with Sophia continued to overshadow her final weeks of play.
After a few days of obtuse instagram stories featuring suggestive but also puzzling quotes like, “shade coming from a tree bearing no fruit could never phase me. Carry on,” Ashlyn Harris has released a statement in the form of a multi-slide instagram story. In the statements, she discusses the pain of ending her 13-year relationship with Ali Krieger, her desire to be a good Mom, and how it’s felt to be the subject of such intense hatred on the internet.
In early November, DeuxMoi had claimed, via an unnamed anonymous source, that Sophia Bush had pursued Ashlyn for a year while she was still married to Ali Krieger and that Ali had evidence of their affair and had allegedly ended friendships with people who’d known about the infidelity. Maybe that story was true, maybe it wasn’t — the internet is indeed a place where anybody who wants to can make up a story at any time can do so. In her statement, Ashlyn says those rumors were not true.
“Let me be clear: I did not step out on my marriage. I was always faithful in my marriage, if not always totally happy. Like in many partnerships, there was work in therapy and processing done. None of this happened on a whim. We spent the entire summer working to tackle the separation and divorce steps outlined for us by our therapists, lawyers, and our shared agency,” Harris wrote.
Breakups are difficult and messy and heartbreaking and confusing and often within those breakups people do bad things, maybe the worst things, and all the hurt and confusion and pressure gets mixed up and blows up. Obviously none of those details can be truly understood out of context by anybody besides the people involved, and those are the same people who can ultimately decide what the consequences for those actions are, rather than the internet. Maybe the stories were true, maybe they weren’t, and online bullying is bad either way. At the end of the day, we are all but dust in the wind, spiraling away through the universe, messing up and trying to do better next time.
