ALBANY, NY — Following her team’s Elite Eight loss to Iowa, Angel Reese reflected on the challenges she has faced since LSU won the title in 2023.
Reese led LSU to a national championship last season, and since then, she has become a superstar. Fame hasn’t come easy.
“I’ve been through so much,” she said following LSU’s season-ending 94-87 defeat to Iowa on Monday. “I have seen so much. I’ve been assaulted numerous times, with death threats, sexualized, threatened, and called a variety of names, and I’ve always stood strong.”
Reese also expressed a wish to be strong for her teammates and not let them down. But she admitted that it might be overwhelming at times.
“All this has happened since I won the national championship,” Reese was quoted as saying. “And it sucks, but I wouldn’t change a thing, and I’d still sit here and say I’m unabashedly myself. I’m going to always leave my mark, be who I am, and stand by it.”
LSU teammates Flau’jae Johnson and Hailey Van Lith also defended Reese.
“Man, let me tell you something. Everybody can have their opinion on Angel Reese, but y’all don’t know her,” Johnson said. “I know the real Angel Reese, and the person I see every day is a strong person, is a caring, loving person. But the crown she wears is heavy.”
Van Lith, who also spoke out Sunday about the racism her teammates face, described Reese as a person with immense strength.
“I think Angel is one of the toughest people I’ve been around,” she said. “People speak hate into her life. I’ve never seen people wish bad things on someone as much as her, and it does not affect her. She comes to practice every day. She lives her life every day. She lives how she wants to live, and she don’t let nobody change that. That’s the key to life right there. Y’all do not get to her. Let me say it again. Y’all do not get to Angel Reese. So you might want to throw the towel in because you’re wasting your energy.”
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