Elena Delle Donne comes out publicly, opens up on relationship


Reigning WNBA MVP and USA Basketball Olympian Elena Delle Donne has come out publicly, according to Chris Hine and Phil Thompson of the Chicago Tribune.

In the report, Hine and Thompson bared that Delle Donne is engaged to her girlfriend Amanda Clifton, as written in an article in Vogue Magazine's August issue -- the first time the 26-year-old Chicago Sky forward acknowledged publicly her sexuality.
"An article in Vogue magazine’s August issue states that Delle Donne is engaged to her girlfriend Amanda Clifton, and it is the first time there has been a public acknowledgement of Delle Donne’s sexual orientation. 
“I’ve grown up in a family where I have the most unique sister in the world and we’ve always been taught to celebrate uniqueness,” Delle Donne said Wednesday in Rio, where she is preparing for the Olympics. “It was easy for me to be who I am and hopefully others can be who they are as well.” 
Delle Donne had shied away from questions about her dating life in the past, but in recent months she has been more open about sharing her personal side through pictures and posts on social media, many of which have featured Clifton. 
“I decided I’m not at all going to hide anything,” Delle Donne said. “The biggest thing is respecting Amanda’s privacy as well. She’s not on the stage, she doesn’t need to be interviewed and I don’t want her to have to feel that way. 
“As the future keeps moving on, I don’t plan on having our relationship out in the public and all this media on it, but obviously there’s excitement right now because people see it for the first time.”"
Delle Donne's Team USA teammates were very supportive of her decision.

Guard Sue Bird told Scott Gleeson of USA Today Sports:
“That’s probably the best part of the story is that it’s not a huge deal anymore." 
“Definitely from a personal standpoint but from a society stand point, that’s where we wanted to get. We wanted be in this place where it’s not a big deal. We want to be in this place where you don’t even have to make an announcement. It’s a non-issue to me in a lot of ways. 
“But for her, it’s great. Definitely proud of her.”
Delle Donne is averaging 21.2 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 1.8 APG, and 1.5 BPG in the 2016 WNBA regular season, including a 41.9 percent clip from three-point area. She also had a stellar showing in the United States' women's basketball team's slate of exhibition games, averaging 13 PPG.

Earlier this year, Washington Mystics center Stefanie Dolson also came out publicly. In April of 2015, Delle Donne's fellow Olympic squad teammate Angel McCoughtry also opened up about her religion and love.

Comments

Post a Comment