Tag: The RE-CAP Show

Press and Heath say they’ve been in relationship for eight years

The duo kept their romance quiet for several years before becoming more open

Tobin Heath and Christen Press have recently made it more clear they are a couple, but just how long they’ve been together has been a mystery.

Until now.

On a recent episode of Peacock’s “Watch with Alex Cooper,” Press revealed that the pair has been together for eight years.

“Tobin and I were not really friends. We weren’t really running in the same circles. And then as soon as I actually got to know her, there was just, like, a magnetism,” said Press. “And I was like, that’s what I want. And I never looked back. I still feel the exact same way.”

“The other day, someone just said to us, ‘Oh, you guys, these guys just met, you look like you’re in love,’” Press continued. “And I’m like, ‘No, it’s been eight years.’”

That would put the start of their relationship back to 2016, a year the pair were part of the U.S. women’s national team that lost in the Olympic quarterfinal. They would go on to win the World Cup together three years later in France.

Press and Heath were quiet about their relationship in its first years before recently becoming more open.

Press said that it was difficult to be completely transparent when they were both competing for the same spot on the USWNT.

Now, neither has played on the national team in three years and they are working together with their RE-INC media company, making it easier to be more open.

“I think there was something a little bit forbidden when it comes to navigating that situation,” Press said. “We’re both forwards so competing for a spot, competing for time. And then off the field, locking it down, being in a relationship and navigating that through the early, early stages of our relationship.”

Press added. “It wasn’t until we both weren’t playing on the same team that it was a little bit easier for us to come forward and share our relationship a little bit more.”

Though the outside world hasn’t become aware of their relationship until recently, Press said all of their teammates weren’t kept in the dark.

In addition to the USWNT, Press and Heath also played together with Manchester United in 2020 and 2021.

“Our teammates knew. … We were never, like, in the closet, like hiding it. Our people always knew what was going on with us,” Press said.

“It’s kind of this protective bubble,” Heath added. “It was kind of more normal than it sounds.”

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Christen Press calls out U.S. Soccer for not punishing Korbin Albert

The longtime USWNT star had some harsh criticism for the federation

Longtime U.S. women’s national team star Christen Press has expressed her disappointment that there were no repercussions for Korbin Albert after her anti-LGBTQ+ social media activity was discovered in March.

The USWNT midfielder was forced to apologize after fans discovered her TikTok account had either shared or reposted a host of anti-LGBTQ+ content.

Despite the firestorm around her, Albert was called into USWNT camp in April and has appeared in all 10 of the team’s games this year.

A number of USWNT players past and present criticized Albert amid the controversy, with co-captains Alex Morgan and Lindsey Horan issuing a joint statement rebuking the 20-year-old in April.

On her podcast “The RE-CAP Show,” Press aired her belief that the statement wasn’t enough, especially after Pride Month celebrations that have seen both the USWNT and USMNT wear rainbow numbers on their jerseys.

“You have an opportunity as an institution, I’m talking about U.S. Soccer, to show a good way to create a culture that doesn’t just monetize Pride, but actually protects people’s feelings and psychological safety and physical safety,” Press said.

“And you could actually create that culture, but you have to do so in a way that’s consistent and in a way that’s not reactionary. And instead of any repercussions [for Albert] — because as far as I know there was none at all — it fell on our captains to do a press conference and be expected to have some miracle. But it’s not an individual code of conduct. It’s U.S. Soccer’s code of conduct.”

One particularly galling element of the Albert situation for Press is that U.S. Soccer is currently auctioning off her jersey, along with every other USWNT and USMNT player, to benefit a charity that works with the LGBTQ+ community.

“I think that maybe the most slap-in-the-face thing that happened here was that this is all happening during Pride Month, that the team wore Pride jerseys including Korbin, and then they auction them off, including her jersey,” the Angel City forward said.

“That just means they’re going through the motions,” she added. “We’re going through the motions. ‘Oh, we have a Pride Night. Oh, we sell the Pride jerseys.’ OK, so great, glad to do that. Everyone loves a good Pride party. Right? Right.”

(Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

In April, USWNT players and interim coach Twila Kilgore said that the entire matter would be handled internally. That, once again, didn’t feel acceptable to Press, who last played for the USWNT in 2021 as she nears a return from a long-term knee injury.

“I think that’s a hard thing to say, when it was an external matter,” Press said. “The tweets, TikToks, Instagrams, those are external. So I think to a certain extent it needed to be handled publicly. And I also think that there’s an opportunity to show how to handle this.”

“Everyone deserves the opportunity to learn and grow and be educated, and there are institutions here that are responsible for creating that environment for themselves and for the brand,” she added.

“And I think that’s where I was disappointed. The women’s soccer community is beyond disappointed. And what I would like to say to all of the people that have been so hurt is there are so many of us USWNT players past and present, club, professional players past and present, that we are side by side with you in this. You are not our fans, we are your community together, and we share the hurt and the sadness of what this series of events brought to us.

“We’re going to continue to do everything that we can as players to protect your safety and our safety, and to make the team and women’s soccer at large as safe and inclusive and as diverse and beautiful and interesting and challenging as we possibly can. And that’s our promise to you.”

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