After years of sacrificing everything for soccer, Ashlyn Harris says she’s been doing “a lot of healing” since retiring in 2022—and that life with her partner Sophia Bush now feels like coming home, a message she brings to her documentary Gamechangers: The Ash
When Ashlyn Harris watches the World Cup, she says her mind drifts away from the game-winning moments. She thinks about the sacrifices players make just to get there—what never shows up in highlight reels, and what stays with them long after the final whistle.
The two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup champion and former U.S. Women’s National Team goalkeeper explores that tension in the documentary Gamechangers: The Ashlyn Harris Story, currently streaming on Roku. In an edited interview for Yahoo’s “Unapologetically” series. Harris describes how she learned early that chasing greatness can come with a heavy price.
“We filter too much success when it comes to sports and athletes,” Harris tells me. “We always show the highlight reels.”
Her own story began at age 5. when soccer offered an escape from what she describes as a chaotic home life—one marked by her parents fighting. financial problems. and her going to bars in sixth grade. Harris also recalls huffing. She later found her way to the University of North Carolina and eventually to the pros. but she says the road was lonely.
“Chasing greatness was awesome, but it cost me a lot,” she says.
Now retired—she stepped away from the sport in 2022—Harris says she’s been doing “a lot of healing” and learning what it means to live beyond the role she spent years performing.
“There’s a huge part of me that was stolen,” Harris says. “I did not have a childhood. I didn’t go to birthday parties. I didn’t have birthday parties in my home. I didn’t go to weddings or funerals.”
The documentary revisits those difficult parts of her upbringing. Asked whether it was harder to live through them or revisit them on camera. Harris answers simply: “It’s interesting — I don’t think revisiting any of this was hard. It’s my truth. If I can’t sit in my truth, then I’m continuing to pretend.”.
She adds that stepping into motherhood has changed how she sees her past: “Now that I’m a mom, it puts a lot into perspective because parenting is really hard, and I have a lot more than they did.”
Harris says the film is shaped by a kind of self-recognition. “I find this documentary to be a love letter to myself,” she says. “I went through all of these things that may seem hard to other people, but they never hardened me. That’s the beauty of it. Hurt people sometimes hurt other people. It made me softer.”.
In her view, the story’s larger call is for grace and community. She points to the speed of judgment—especially online—and the toll it can take, particularly on young people.
“Everyone is so quick to judge and resent and cancel people for just existing, making mistakes or falling short,” she says. “It’s a challenging time to exist. Everyone has an opinion about everything.”
Harris ties that pressure directly to the way modern youth make mistakes, and how unforgiving the reaction can be. “Social media is really jeopardizing a lot, especially for our youth,” she says. “Thank god we didn’t grow up having it, and we had the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them.”
“I will put my hand up: I am not a perfect person, nor was I a perfect child. You live and learn,” she continues. “I feel bad for this generation — its vultures waiting to prey on someone the second they have an oopsie. It’s just crazy.”
For Harris, the documentary doesn’t just look backward. It challenges how sports are discussed now—what fans see, and what they refuse to acknowledge.
“You won two World Cups, but the documentary makes clear that some of the hardest battles in your life were off the field,” she’s asked. “When you watch sports now, do you think we’re getting better at talking about that?”
Her response returns to filtering and silence. “We filter so much,” Harris says. “We want young kids to dream big and go after whatever they choose, but it’s a hard life, and not enough people expose that.”
She also explains why she stepped away: the healing process that followed a lifetime of being mission-driven. “People ask me all the time why I stepped away from the game,” Harris says. “I have a lot of healing to do from chasing success and greatness for my entire life. There’s a huge part of me that was stolen.”.
In retirement, she describes a reshaping of identity—taking off the jersey, and confronting who she is without “Harris No. 24.”
“I’ve done a lot of work figuring out who I am outside of what I did — really taking that jersey off and figuring out who I am besides ‘Harris No. 24,’” she says.
She frames sports as something with an ending built in: “Sports has a shelf life — that’s just fact. It’s going to end through injury, not making a squad or your own choice to step away. It’s a serious process to reflect on who you are outside of something you’ve done your whole life. It’s like a rebirth.”.
What follows, she says, is learning how to move through the world without the same constant urgency. “It’s like, How am I going to move in this big world now that I don’t have that?”
Harris calls the process tough but rewarding. “It’s a tough process, but it’s been really fun,” she says. “I’m almost reintroducing myself to myself.”
Instead of chasing championships and the next roster spot, she says she now focuses on being present. “Now I’m able to be present, to be at peace and to focus on joy and my family instead of always chasing the next roster, tournament or gold medal.”
Her current family life includes two children—Sloane and Ocean—whom she parents with Sophia Bush, the partner featured in the film. Harris is also clear that her journey is tied to learning how to build safety and happiness where it was missing before.
“You share a glimpse of your life together. You call her ‘home.’ What went into your decision to include that chapter?” she’s asked.
Harris answers with a simple moral: if she’s going to be vulnerable, she has to go all the way. “If I’m going to be vulnerable and expose everything. I owe it to myself and everyone else to really go there. ” she says. “I’m living the best season of my journey right now. and I want to be open and honest about it. When you find peace, happiness, love, safety and ease, you want to scream it from the rooftops.”.
She also frames the inclusion as something she hopes reaches other people still trying to decide whether staying is helping or hurting. “I also want to be mindful that what’s ours is ours. but it’s also important for our community to see and hear the message that it’s never too late to start over. ” she says. “If you’ve built something and you don’t feel safe or happy in it. it’s OK to leave and go find joy.”.
Harris contrasts that with her own parents’ choices. “That’s a difference between my generation and my parents’,” she says. “My parents stayed together until I left for college. They were a generation that stayed together in a home that was not a safe environment for the children. We don’t have to make those mistakes anymore.”.
“[If] you’ve tried and tried and tried, it’s OK to say: ‘This is not for me anymore,’” she adds.
The way Harris describes it is both personal and blunt: “It’s a brave decision — it’s a selfish decision — but life is also too short and too long to be unhappy.”
She returns to the theme of rebuilding in other parts of her life too, including how she thinks about money. Harris says money was a source of stress growing up, and that women’s soccer wasn’t a path to wealth when she started.
“How has that experience shaped the way you think about money today?” she’s asked.
“I still have a scarcity mindset,” Harris says. “I definitely see that in the way I do things.”
She recalls advice from a close friend who grew up wealthy: “Act poor and stay rich.”
For Harris, that outlook shows up in her choices. “A lot of what I wear is thrifted. I don’t like big logos or flashy, expensive things. I want to be comfortable, but I also want to be mindful,” she says. “I want to give my children a better experience in life than I had. and that drives a lot of my financial decisions.”.
She says she works hard and enjoys it, but the childhood imprint lingers. “I work my ass off, and I also enjoy it. But I do have that scarcity mindset. I have buyer’s remorse and all those things, and that stems from my childhood.”
Even her fitness routine reflects the same shift from performance to health—structured, deliberate, and designed for the long term. “Even though you retire, you’re always a professional athlete,” she says. “That competitive spirit never leaves you. You just step away from the game.”
She describes the discipline she still keeps: “I still eat very healthy, work out four or five times a week, drink a lot of water and don’t abuse my body. I prep and cook every single meal.”
For her now, the emphasis is mental health as much as physical condition. “For me now, it’s more of a mental health thing. I need structure,” Harris says. “I’ve had structure my whole life, and when I don’t have discipline and habits, I get a little squirrelly.”
“I need to throw some weight around, feel good about myself and feel good about my body,” she adds. “I want to live a long time. I want to be a healthy mom for my babies.”
In the film, she’s also shown as someone who pursued her path early. One moment in the documentary stands out to the interviewer: Harris in the eighth grade, calling then-UNC soccer coach Anson Dorrance to commit to the school.
“It’s a good message to kids. If you want something, go for it,” Harris says. “What’s the worst thing that would have happened? He didn’t pick up the phone or said ‘no.’ That doesn’t feel that scary. I think fear gets in the way a lot. I hope that people pick up the phone and make the call.”
After a life built around becoming a champion, Harris says she wants the second half to be about something else.
“If the first half of your life was about becoming a champion, what do you hope the second half is about?” she’s asked.
“I’m chasing purpose. I’m not chasing success in this new phase,” Harris says. “That’s the biggest thing for me.”
Right now, that purpose starts with her children. “Right now, I want to be present for my kids. I’m trying to mold good humans. They’re teaching me who they are, and I’m listening,” she says. “Seasons change so quickly for them. They turn into someone different every week — and I have to grieve the old them. and learn who the new person is.”.
She hints at what comes next without turning it into a spoiler. “When they’re a little older, I’ll want to chase new opportunities again,” Harris says. “I’ve been producing. I’ve been doing shows and documentaries. and now I’m stepping into — which is an exciting project but I can’t talk about yet — scripted projects.”.
She says sports and entertainment will always sit near the center of her life—what drives culture. and where her niche remains. But for now. her focus is simpler and closer to home: “I’m always going to sit at the center of sports and entertainment. It’s what drives culture, and where my niche is. But right now, I’m chasing my 3- and 5-year-old around.”.
Gamechangers: The Ashlyn Harris Story is streaming on Roku—and in Harris’s telling, it’s more than a look at a star athlete’s career. It’s a record of what it took to survive the parts nobody praises, and what it looks like to finally feel like she can live there.
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