MY ACCOUNT
Former United States goalkeeper Hope Solo has opened up on her treatment for alcohol abuse after being convicted of driving while impaired.
Solo was arrested in North Carolina on March 31 and initially charged with impaired driving, resisting arrest and misdemeanour child abuse, with her two children present in the vehicle at the time of the offence.
The latter two charges were voluntarily dismissed, her attorney Chris Clifton told the Winston-Salem Journal on Tuesday, as Solo received a suspended 24-month sentence and surrendered her driving licence.
The former goalkeeper, who won 202 caps for her country between 2000 and 2016, revealed she was to enter an in-patient alcohol treatment program in April, having requested her imminent induction into the National Soccer Hall of Fame be postponed until 2023.
Solo has now taken to social media to thank those who aided her throughout her treatment, as she labelled the incident leading to the arrest “the worst mistake of my life”.
“It’s been a long road, but I’m slowly coming back from taking time off,” she wrote on Twitter.
“I made a huge mistake, easily the worst mistake of my life. I underestimated what a destructive part of my life alcohol had become.
“The upside of making a mistake this big is that hard lessons are learned quickly. Learning these lessons has been difficult, and at times, very painful.
“I would like to thank my attorneys, Rich Nichols, Jim Trusty and Chris Clifton, for understanding that putting my mental and emotional well-being first is most important to me and my family. I look forward to opening up and sharing more with everyone in the coming weeks.
“I also want to thank all the wonderful women I met during my time at the Hope Valley treatment facility.
“I continue to be a student of the greatest school called life and I will continue to learn and grow from these experiences. I will continue to gain empathy, knowledge, and stories to share.
“I consider this a gift to pass it on to others because pain shared is pain lessened.”
