107. Billie Jean King: Abby’s Hero Shares Her Hardest Battle

We Can Do Hard Things

Treat Media and Glennon Doyle

Relationships, Education, Self-improvement, Society & Culture

4.8 • 42.7K Ratings

🗓️ 23 June 2022

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

1. How Billie Jean could not live as her full authentic self until age 51. 2. The moment Billie Jean knew that Abby was not okay after her USWNT retirement. 3. How to visualize a reality that doesn’t yet exist – so you can be it, even when you don’t see it. 4. How Billie Jean numbed herself through an eating disorder and how she recovered by not being a “good girl.” 5. Why Billie Jean does not regret her pre-Roe abortion, and the degrading process she endured to access it. CW // eating disorders discussion About Billie Jean: Named one of the “100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century” by Life magazine and a 2009 recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Billie Jean King is the founder of the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative, founder of the Women’s Tennis Association and the Women’s Sports Foundation and part of the ownership group of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Angel City FC and the Philadelphia Freedoms. King also serves on the board of the Women’s Sports Foundation. In her legendary tennis career, King captured 39 Grand Slam singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles, including a record 20 Wimbledon championships. Her historic win over Bobby Riggs in the 1973 Battle of the Sexes, is one of the greatest moments in sports history. In 2017, Fox Searchlight released the critically acclaimed film, Battle of the Sexes, which depicts the cultural and social impact of the groundbreaking match. In September 2020, King became the first woman to have an annual global team sports event named in her honor when Fed Cup – the women’s world cup of tennis – was rebranded as the Billie Jean King Cup. Her memoir, ALL IN: An Autobiography, is available now. TW: @BillieJeanKing IG: @billiejeanking

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a first and we can do our things land because it's never before been admitted
0:07.4	by Abby that she feels nervous.
0:10.3	Talk to us.
0:11.3	Yeah.
0:12.3	I just want her number one, like I want to be as gentle and loving to this person who
0:19.4	deserves it.
0:20.4	If I could be with her in the studio, I would have pillows and I would get her water.
0:26.8	Religion King is the icon of icons as it relates to not just women's sports, but what I emulate
0:36.0	myself after.
0:37.3	This is the woman who has fought for a half century so that I could have the life that
0:45.6	I have and that I could have played on the stadiums and stages that I played on.
0:52.0	It's not lost on me.
0:53.6	How meaningful she is to the world and specifically to my life.
0:59.8	I think about women's soccer and I think about where we are now.
1:05.6	The Federation of Spain just signed a deal with their men and women's team that they're
1:10.9	now going to have equal pay.
1:13.4	That's because of the women's national team and that's because of Billie Jean King.
1:19.2	There is a very short line to the success of women's sports and every element of it
1:27.1	comes from Billie Jean King, like truly it does.
1:31.6	She's going to say all of the women that came before her and the people that helped her.
1:36.2	That's great, but it's Billie Jean King.
1:38.1	She is the one that planted the flag in the ground and said we deserve better.
	...

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