Megan Rapinoe.Photo: Bennett Raglin/Getty
Megan Rapinoeis still reeling from the summary judgment that struck down part of the U.S. women’s national soccer team’s equal pay lawsuit.
The two-time World Cup champion, who was just named to the team’s Tokyo Olympics roster, spoke to PEOPLE at the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of the HBO Max documentaryLFG, streaming Thursday. The doc follows the team’s equal pay lawsuit and the crushing blow in May 2020 when ajudge ruled in favor of the U.S. Soccer Federation on the most consequential aspects of the lawsuit.
The summary judgment is still surprising to Rapinoe, and some of the team’s members are seen reacting emotionally in the climax of the documentary.
“It always hurts really to have, you know, not just anybody say that about you, but to have someone who sees you so up close all the time and understands all the work that you put in,” she says of the relationship with the federation.
The documentary gives some of the players the opportunity to show a different side of themselves on camera. While the team is known for its unabashed confidence and dominance, the film shows Rapinoe, Kelley O’Hara, Becky Sauerbrunn, Sam Mewis, Jessica McDonald and more getting emotional while discussing the ongoing toll of the lawsuit.
“It was almost a little bit natural and probably cathartic to be able to not have to be superwoman all the time,” Rapinoe says. “Just to be able to kind of say how difficult it is and how much of a toll it takes and how we wish we could be putting our talent and resources and creativity and intelligence to something else. But you know, this is what’s required at the moment.”
“This is something that goes so far beyond even our team or what we’ve had to deal with,” she continues. “So we need to be able to stand up there and be really proud of something for basically all women in the world.”
LFGis streaming on HBO Max now.
source: people.com
