Ashlyn Harris Admits She "Hurt" Ali Krieger in Divorce

Ashlyn Harris Shares Glimpse Of Sweet Family Day With Kids and Sophia Bush

Ashlyn Harris confessed she dropped the ball during her divorce.

The retired USWNT goalie admitted that her 2023 breakup with ex-wife Ali Krieger—with whom she shares kids Sloane, 5, and Ocean, 3—had an unfortunate impact on her former partner after four years of marriage.

"I had to make a really hard decision. I know I hurt her in that process," Ashlyn told Us Weekly in an interview published June 4. "Life is too short to feel the burden and weight of a life you don’t want to be in and you don’t want to live. It f--king sucks, and you have to make the hard decisions sometimes, but on the other side of that bravery is a life maybe you’ve always imagined."

Indeed, the 40-year-old released a statement addressing the difficult split at the time, now adding more insight about just how much the situation influenced her mindset.

"You try and you try and you try and you keep trying to make it work and you don’t want to fail," Ashlyn confessed. "You don’t want to give up. But also, life is really short and really long at the same time. I get one shot at this. There’s no second act. If I’m feeling this way in my 30s and I’m so unhappy that I don’t want to get out of bed, am I really serving her and my children and my friends and myself?"

The two-time FIFA World Cup Champion filed for divorce in September 2023 before being romantically linked the following month to One Tree Hill alum Sophia Bush, whom Ashlyn had been friends with since meeting at a conference in 2019.

"I’m the happiest I’ve ever been," Ashlyn admitted, now over two years into her relationship with Sophia. "I love myself. I don’t remember the last time I woke up being like, 'I love the person I’m looking at in the mirror.' I [used to] have to remind myself every day, 'You’re enough. It’s going to be OK. Just gotta put one foot in front of the other.'"

Even though Ashlyn has moved on in her relationship with Sophia, 43—who split from husband Grant Hughes after one year of marriage in August 2023—she clarified, "I don’t resent or regret anything about the life that I built with [Ali]; it just wasn’t for me."

Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

For her part, Ali has previously expressed disappointment over the public nature of their fallout.

"I’m overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support I’ve received this last year," Ali said in a 2024 Instagram statement. "However, amidst this warmth, I’ve also had to confront a wave of dishonesty and misinformation regarding my marriage and personal life."

Still, the 41-year-old noted "above all else, my unwavering priority remains the protection and well-being of my children."

Ashlyn too shares their mutual desire to focus on co-parenting, having taken the time to figure out her identity "outside of that brand” with Ali.

"We always make sure we tell our children they get the best of two worlds,” Ashlyn exclusively told E! News in 2025. “It's not this or that. Everything that the kids get to do, they get to do it twice. Everything is doubled, and I think it's exciting for them.”

For a closer look at Ashlyn and Ali's life as moms, keep reading...

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