Megan Rapinoe Talks About Her Brother Michael's Alcoholism-Related Death.
Megan Rapinoe holds a special place in her heart for her late brother. The former member of the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team revealed that her brother Michael passed away in 2025 due to alcoholism.
"I went home last year after my older brother Michael died," on June 11, Megan revealed this to former colleague Abby Wambach on her podcast, A Touch More: The Beautiful Game. "It was a long battle with alcoholism, and it was sad."
The Olympic gold star acknowledged that the cost of playing professional soccer before her retirement in 2023 caused her to take a rare break from her hectic work schedule in order to grieve for her half-brother Michael, who is one of Megan's five siblings, along with her brother Brian, biological twin sister Rachael, half-sister Jenny, and another sister.
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According to Megan, "I just was thinking so much while I was home, ‘Wow, I can’t even remember the last time I was home for this long, not for a holiday or, you know, a wedding or something.’”
As a result, the podcaster realized what she and Michael had in common after her brother passed away.
"I see the obsession and compulsion and addiction in myself in him too," Megan said. "And it's like you're searching for something."
In an exclusive 2019 interview with Megan for ESPN, her other brother Brian, a recovering addict, revealed he was finishing a 12-month rehabilitative reentry program to complete his jail sentence, demonstrating Megan's empathy for her family member's problems.
"I don't take on that blame anymore," in a 2020 interview with People, Megan clarified, "but it's given me an incredible amount of empathy for people caught up in the opioid crisis."
"For whatever reason, the drugs sunk their teeth into Brian," Megan remarked. "He didn't need federal prison; he needed drug rehab."
At the June gathering, Abby, for her part, talked about the painful realization of losing a loved one.
"We both now have brothers that have died," Abby continued, referring to her brother Peter G. Wambach Jr., who passed away in 2023 due to heart attack issues. "That is crazy."