In an essay published on The Players’ Tribune, a website that allows athletes to write first-person narratives, a homegrown women’s soccer star opened up Thursday about her struggles with negative body image and a flood of negative attention that followed a viral online story highlighting her looks.
Morgan Reid, who was recently drafted by the North Carolina Courage after a successful college and prep career at Duke Cardinal Gibbons (she was The News & Observer’s 2013-14 female high school athlete of the year), recounted how photos on her personal Instagram appeared on Barstool Sports, a website that appeals to men by mixing sports, satire and pop culture, in a 2016 story that deemed her “the hottest athlete in college sports.