WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:05.120 In 1981, Billie Jean King had a decision to make. 00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:08.960 A woman she'd had a relationship with was suing her. 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:17.039 The relationship was about to become everybody's business, and the people advising Billie Jean wanted her to deny it. 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:18.559 She wouldn't. 00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:22.079 She called a press conference and acknowledged the affair. 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:28.559 I admire her honesty, but I can't imagine how traumatic this must have been. 00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:40.240 Something intensely personal and potentially devastating to her reputation and livelihood, particularly in that era, was being broadcast to the entire world. 00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:44.960 On top of it all, she was still married to her husband. 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:48.159 She was already in love with another woman. 00:00:48.399 --> 00:00:55.520 And she was frightened that anything she said about her sexuality could hurt the woman's pro tennis tour she'd helped build. 00:00:55.759 --> 00:00:57.920 Her former relationship was public. 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:01.759 Much of her life still had to stay hidden. 00:01:02.159 --> 00:01:04.480 She was 37 at the time. 00:01:04.799 --> 00:01:10.400 But years later, she would say she hadn't been comfortable with her sexuality until she was 51. 00:01:11.120 --> 00:01:12.319 51. 00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:20.000 She was known for being the woman who won the great battle of the sexes against Bobby Riggs on the tennis court. 00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:25.359 But now she would be known for her sexuality in a very different way. 00:01:52.640 --> 00:01:58.400 Her dad was a firefighter, her mother was a homemaker, and it was an athletic family. 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:03.040 In fact, her younger brother Randy would become a major league pitcher. 00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:09.840 I think this already gives you the sense that Billie Jean was not raised as a country club kid. 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:16.080 She started playing tennis on the public courts and bought a racket with money she'd earned doing odd jobs. 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:21.360 She also decided she was gonna be number one in the world. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:23.759 That's pretty ambitious. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:35.280 I used to hit ground strokes against the wall at a local high school court playing all sorts of imaginary Grand Slams, pretending I was number one, but I never had the determination to actually do it. 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:38.080 But Billie Jean, she meant it. 00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:41.840 And tennis gave her an early lesson about who was welcome. 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:50.000 At a junior tournament in 1955, she was left out of a group photograph because she was wearing shorts her mother had made. 00:02:50.240 --> 00:02:53.599 Girls were supposed to wear tennis dresses. 00:02:54.719 --> 00:02:59.919 I feel like situations like that are why tennis has such an elitist reputation. 00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:02.639 Her mother makes her something to play in. 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:04.719 She shows up to play. 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:13.120 Then an adult decides she's dressed wrong for the picture and probably had the condescension to believe she didn't deserve to play there either. 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:17.439 I don't know for sure, but I'll bet she beat their asses. 00:03:18.319 --> 00:03:21.919 I always wonder what children do with moments like that. 00:03:22.639 --> 00:03:30.960 Some get embarrassed, some apologize, some spend years trying to figure out the rules so they won't be caught doing the wrong thing again. 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:36.560 Billie Jean used it as motivation and carried that moment into her work for equality. 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:42.400 She was also looking around the tennis club and noticing how much of the world was missing. 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:46.080 White clothes, white shoes. 00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:51.680 There were lots of white players, but where was everybody else? 00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:56.479 In telling that story later, she described a promise she made to herself. 00:03:56.800 --> 00:04:01.520 If she became number one, she would spend her life fighting for equality. 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:07.759 Of course, becoming number one is rather a large preliminary step. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:13.039 I appreciate someone who puts that on the list before change society. 00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:15.919 And she did it. 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:20.639 She became the world's top-ranked woman in 1966. 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:25.360 But winning did not automatically give her the same opportunities as the men. 00:04:26.800 --> 00:04:32.399 There's a historic photograph of nine professional women's tennis players holding up dollar bills. 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:36.000 At first glance, it doesn't look like much. 00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:37.199 It's a dollar. 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:48.399 You could buy a lot more then with a buck than you can now, like probably four gallons of gas, for example, but it still wasn't a lot. 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:59.279 But it did purchase a break for these women from the tennis establishment to launch their own pro tour to fight for fair pay and control over their careers. 00:05:00.079 --> 00:05:04.959 For these women, it also represented a risk to everything they had worked for. 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:10.079 In 1970, prize money disparities were getting worse. 00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:16.720 At one prominent tournament, the men were being offered more than eight times as much as the women. 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:25.759 Billy Jean, Rosie Cassals, and Nancy Ritchie worked with Gladys Heldman, the publisher of World Tennis Magazine. 00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:31.920 Heldman organized a tournament in Houston, and nine women signed$1 contracts with her company. 00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:34.560 They became the original nine. 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:42.480 Because of it, the tennis establishment threatened their rankings and their access to major competitions. 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:50.319 These were women trying to make a living in a sport that could punish them for asking how they were supposed to make a living. 00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:52.879 They went ahead anyway. 00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:56.720 We tend to remember a famous person with a trophy. 00:05:56.959 --> 00:06:03.040 We don't always remember the meeting where she had to convince other people to risk their careers with her. 00:06:04.079 --> 00:06:07.759 Or the woman making the phone calls to get a tournament organized. 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:13.279 Or the players showing up when nobody could guarantee how this would turn out. 00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:18.000 Billie Jean was a remarkable leader. 00:06:19.120 --> 00:06:27.600 I also admire the people beside her who saw the vision and had such respect for Billy and her vision, they saw that it was worth the sacrifice. 00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:33.600 In 1972, she won the US Open and received$10,000. 00:06:34.319 --> 00:06:38.720 The men's champion, Ilya Nassasi, received$25,000. 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:44.720 Now I'm no mathematician, but I noticed when there's$15,000 missing from my paycheck. 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:47.680 She pushed for equal prize money. 00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:51.040 The following year, the US Open offered it. 00:06:51.279 --> 00:06:54.720 A sponsor, Bandy Odorant, helped provide the funding. 00:06:55.920 --> 00:07:02.560 In 1973, she also helped establish the Women's Tennis Association and became its first president. 00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:06.639 She was winning matches and helping build a profession. 00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:10.240 Then came Bobby Riggs. 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:16.399 I'm sorry, but you can't tell a story about Billy Jean without mentioning Bobby Riggs. 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:20.560 Bobby Riggs had been a great tennis player in his day. 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:30.319 By 1973, he was 55, and he had discovered that being loudly unpleasant about women could attract a tremendous amount of attention. 00:07:31.279 --> 00:07:37.759 He was a male chauvinist and arrogantly claimed that he could beat the top women despite his age. 00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:41.920 Billy Jean had turned down his challenges. 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:47.680 But then he played Margaret Court, another woman's former number one and grand slam champion. 00:07:47.839 --> 00:07:49.680 And he beat her badly. 00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:53.600 After that, she finally agreed to play him. 00:07:53.839 --> 00:07:56.879 She understood how that result was being used. 00:07:57.120 --> 00:08:03.120 A woman had lost a tennis match and suddenly it was being offered as evidence about all women. 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:05.439 It's a remarkable system. 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:08.480 A man loses and he had an off day. 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:13.360 A woman loses, and we apparently need to review whether women should have jobs. 00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:18.560 September 20th, 1973, the Houston Astrodome. 00:08:19.040 --> 00:08:23.279 An estimated 90 million people around the world watched. 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:28.240 In one small way, very small, I was there. 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:35.600 My mom, who was very pregnant at the time, watched from our living room, and I was born just a few weeks later. 00:08:36.080 --> 00:08:39.679 The entrances alone could have exhausted a quieter person. 00:08:40.159 --> 00:08:44.559 Billy Jean came in carried on an Egyptian-style chair on poles. 00:08:44.879 --> 00:08:50.240 It's called a litter, carried by a group of hot, shirtless men. 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:55.200 Bobby arrived in a rickshop accompanied by young, voluptuous women. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:58.879 I mean, come on, 1973. 00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:02.720 Could we dispense with the offensive gender stereotypes? 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:08.240 Although, I do admit I didn't mind looking at Billie Jean's escorts. 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:12.879 There was a$100,000 winner-take-all prize. 00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:15.120 There was hype everywhere. 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:20.320 And underneath all of it, she felt an enormous responsibility to win. 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:27.919 Women's tennis was making progress. 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:34.960 She worried about how easily people might use a loss to argue that the whole thing had been a mistake. 00:09:36.559 --> 00:09:40.799 And I love the fact that she played him on his terms as well. 00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:47.840 Women generally play best two out of three sets while men play best three out of five at the majors. 00:09:48.320 --> 00:09:54.320 Well, she beat him in three straight sets: 6'4, 6'3, 6'2. 00:09:55.600 --> 00:10:03.840 I watched some of it recently in preparation for this episode, and you could see exhaustion take over, and he just faded away at the end. 00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:11.200 Now, this wasn't a scientific experiment that settled every argument anyone would ever have about men and women in sports. 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:14.799 It was an exhibition against an older, former champion. 00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:19.039 But Bobby had chosen to make it a public test of women's worth. 00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:23.600 Billie Jean understood that, and she made him live with the result. 00:10:25.279 --> 00:10:32.799 What a satisfying evening that must have been for women who had been listening to this stuff at work, at home, everywhere. 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:38.080 I watched an interview with Tracy Austin, who was a top tennis pro several years later. 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:46.240 She commented that Billy's win really helped inspire women from every walk of life and provide fuel for the women's movement. 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:53.360 Billie Jean had been a serious champion long before Bobby made himself available to be beaten on television. 00:10:53.919 --> 00:10:58.960 Across her career, she won 39 Grand Slam titles in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. 00:10:59.840 --> 00:11:01.919 20 were at Wimbledon alone. 00:11:03.519 --> 00:11:05.120 One thing I'll say about Bobby. 00:11:05.360 --> 00:11:12.080 While Billie Jean earned her place in tennis history, Bobby helped make her familiar to people who had never watched tennis at all. 00:11:13.039 --> 00:11:17.519 And my personal commentary is that he damaged his own reputation. 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:22.159 I've never heard people talk about his pretty illustrious tennis career. 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:27.360 I've only heard about this loss and how he was a chauvinist pig. 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:32.639 Billie Jean married Larry King in 1965. 00:11:33.039 --> 00:11:36.799 Now, this was Larry King, the tennis entrepreneur, by the way. 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:39.360 Different Larry King than you might be thinking of. 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:41.440 No suspenders required. 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:47.919 He helped develop women's professional tennis and shared her belief that the sport could be better. 00:11:48.240 --> 00:11:53.279 In later interviews, Billie Jean said she had thought she was straight when she was young. 00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:56.480 Understanding her attraction to women came later. 00:11:56.799 --> 00:12:02.399 Now, I'm glad she said that because people can be pretty judgy about somebody else's timeline. 00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:06.960 Sexuality can be complex, and not everyone knows in kindergarten. 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:11.600 We couldn't all submit our applications to the queer club before first grade. 00:12:12.240 --> 00:12:16.559 Some people know very early, and some people spend years sorting it out. 00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:21.519 Some understand a feeling well before they can allow themselves to say what it means. 00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:27.360 Billie Jean began a relationship with a woman named Marilyn Barnett in the early 70s. 00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:30.960 Barnett traveled with her and worked as her assistant. 00:12:31.679 --> 00:12:34.080 Then that relationship ended. 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:44.480 By 1981, Billie Jean was with Alana Kloss, a fellow tennis player, but Billie Jean was still married to Larry, and Alana's place in her life was private. 00:12:44.879 --> 00:12:52.159 That same year, Barnett filed a lawsuit seeking financial support and property, which publicly outed Billie Jean. 00:12:52.960 --> 00:13:01.200 She did not get to choose her moment to announce her sexuality, which is sad and all too common, especially for public figures. 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:06.000 She chose to acknowledge the affair once the story was becoming public. 00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:12.399 Her advisors urged denial, but she insisted on speaking. 00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:18.240 But admitting to a past relationship did not resolve everything she was still struggling with. 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:25.440 There was her marriage, her parents, Alana's privacy, and the fear that speaking openly would damage the tour. 00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:32.480 King is described being warned that women's professional tennis might not survive such a disclosure. 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:37.440 Imagine trying to figure yourself out with that attached. 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:43.039 Other players' livelihoods, sponsorship, years of work. 00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:47.919 You could convince yourself that keeping quiet was a responsibility. 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:53.039 I can't imagine the weight that she was carrying during that time. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:57.440 The personal financial damage was enormous. 00:13:57.679 --> 00:14:05.840 In a later interview, Billie Jean said she lost all her endorsements except one, and that company reduced what it paid sharply. 00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:15.840 She was approaching the end of her career, a time when those contracts should have helped provide some security, but instead she had to rebuild. 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:22.000 She stayed on tour longer than she'd intended, playing with painful, surgically repaired knees. 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:25.039 That's the detail that really gets to me. 00:14:25.279 --> 00:14:30.639 People talk about a lost endorsement like it's a line in a business article or something. 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:35.440 But she had to keep taking her body back onto a tennis court to earn money. 00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:40.559 She'd expected to have another way, and the scrutiny spread beyond her. 00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:46.399 Reporters questioned teenage players about whether they feared having lesbians on the tour. 00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:50.960 Some outlets offered incentives for people to out other gay players. 00:14:51.759 --> 00:14:56.320 They were asking young women to be frightened of people they knew and played alongside. 00:14:56.639 --> 00:15:02.399 Billie Jean asked the press to direct their questions to her and leave the others alone. 00:15:03.440 --> 00:15:08.159 Stories like this help answer the question: why don't they just come out sooner? 00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:12.320 I think Billy's story helps make that pretty obvious. 00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:14.639 The consequences were real. 00:15:15.200 --> 00:15:17.759 She had a reason to be afraid. 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:24.559 With her being such a public figure, it impacted public opinion and it even touched my own home. 00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:28.320 You see, my family loved tennis. 00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:32.720 When the majors were on, that was must-see television in our house. 00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:41.360 By the time I remember watching, though, Billie Jean's main single's playing career was over, but she still played doubles all the way to 1990. 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:50.960 I can't tell you which broadcast it was or my dad's exact words, but I remember him being absolutely repulsed by her. 00:15:51.840 --> 00:16:01.679 She was the first recognizable person I remember who showed me how the LGBTQ community was regarded in my house, and especially to dad. 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:05.200 Her sexuality was absolutely disgusting. 00:16:05.360 --> 00:16:08.960 And he said they should not allow her to be on television. 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:12.320 It was a tough message to absorb. 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:17.279 It really complicated the journey as I started to understand my own secret battle. 00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:27.679 Looking at her story now, I think about the achievement sitting right there on the screen and how easily hatred can make all of it disappear. 00:16:28.559 --> 00:16:33.360 I also think about what a kid learns when an adult reacts that way. 00:16:34.159 --> 00:16:40.879 You don't have to know yet whether you're gay to learn that there are things you should never let people see in you. 00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:48.399 Later, when you start to recognize something in yourself, you already have an idea of how the room might respond. 00:16:48.879 --> 00:16:52.799 That's one reason I wanted to tell Billie Jean's story. 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:58.639 I wanted to look at her again with my own post-coming out eyes. 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:03.120 Alana Cloth was a tennis champion herself. 00:17:03.360 --> 00:17:07.359 She became the world's number one doubles player and won major titles. 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:12.160 She later led World Team Tennis as its commissioner and CEO. 00:17:12.799 --> 00:17:18.160 She had her own career, her own family, and her own reasons for winning privacy. 00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:24.720 So when Billie Jean and Alana kept their relationship quiet, there were two people making their way through that situation. 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:28.559 They were together for decades before they married. 00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:32.240 Billie Jean is described how hiding became a habit. 00:17:32.480 --> 00:17:37.359 She might want to acknowledge Alana in a speech, and Alana would ask her not to. 00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:40.079 I find that very understandable. 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:47.920 You do something to protect yourself for long enough, and eventually you do it before you've even considered whether it's still necessary. 00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:58.799 You edit your words, leave out a name, avoid public affection, and let people make an assumption because correcting it means another complicated conversation. 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:05.200 And then one day you realize how much of your life you've been a prisoner to these false perceptions. 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:09.759 Billie Jean and Larry divorced in 1987. 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:14.720 Their relationship remained important even after the marriage ended. 00:18:15.119 --> 00:18:20.079 But Billie Jean still had work to do before she could feel comfortable in her own skin. 00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:24.720 At 51, Billie Jean entered a treatment center for an eating disorder. 00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:27.200 She stayed for six weeks. 00:18:27.759 --> 00:18:33.200 She linked her struggle with binge eating to the strain of hiding and not accepting herself. 00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:36.160 That's how she describes her experience. 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:39.200 But she was struggling and she needed help. 00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:45.519 When she talked about this with Julia Louis Dreyfus, she recalled asking her parents to come to the treatment center. 00:18:45.759 --> 00:18:51.680 Her father suggested she wasn't like the other women there, but she told him she was. 00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:54.640 She was having a hard time too. 00:18:54.960 --> 00:19:00.400 They were able to laugh together in that exchange, and I love the affection you see there. 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:07.440 I also think about how difficult it can be to try to convince somebody who believes in you that you need help. 00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:11.359 I'm sure it was a tough thing for Billy to admit. 00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:21.680 She was such a tough person, and people had watched her manage so much that they probably started to assume that she didn't need anything. 00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:27.759 Billie Jean was a daughter sitting with her dad, trying to be understood. 00:19:28.480 --> 00:19:32.480 All the trophies in the world couldn't have that conversation for her. 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:43.039 She has spoken about how difficult it was for her mother to accept her sexuality, even while recognizing how much happier she was with Alana. 00:19:43.759 --> 00:19:46.799 That's a painful place for a family to get stuck. 00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:53.119 Someone can see the happiness and still struggle to let go of what they expected your life to be. 00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:58.799 And the person living that life can spend years waiting for permission to enjoy it. 00:19:59.599 --> 00:20:04.559 Billie Jean says 51 was when she finally felt comfortable with her sexuality. 00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:09.599 Personally, I know I've said it before, but I came out at 49. 00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:18.559 So I know what it's like to look at the years behind you and wonder how you got so far into your life before you could be comfortable with something this important. 00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:28.160 I also have some closeted friends that believe they are past the point of no return, and it's pointless to disrupt the life you've already built. 00:20:28.960 --> 00:20:32.799 But I believe that the years ahead still count. 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:37.279 There's no age at which being honest stops mattering. 00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:46.000 There's a lighter thread in this story that I have to include, especially after our Elton John episode just last week. 00:20:46.319 --> 00:20:49.680 Elton and Billy Jean became friends in 1973. 00:20:50.079 --> 00:20:54.160 A couple of years later, he released the song Philadelphia Freedom. 00:20:54.799 --> 00:20:58.160 If you don't know the name, I'm sure you would recognize the song. 00:20:58.400 --> 00:21:05.839 It was named for her tennis team and written in her honor, and it hit the top of the charts in 1975. 00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:13.599 I have friends who will occasionally bring me a bottle of wine, and she had a friend who gave her a number one single. 00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:19.440 Their friendship also became a partnership in raising money for HIV and AIDS causes. 00:21:19.680 --> 00:21:28.319 I spent so many years thinking of her as a sort of villain because of my dad, and it is lovely just to picture her being somebody's friend. 00:21:28.559 --> 00:21:36.240 Laughing, loving music, and just being the completely human and wonderful person that she actually is. 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:43.440 It's also wonderful that despite such a complicated history, Billy and Larry remained close. 00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:49.039 Billy Jean and Alana became godparents to Larry and his second wife, Nancy's children. 00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:57.200 When Larry died in May 2026, the Women's Tennis Association's tribute described that lasting extended family. 00:21:58.240 --> 00:21:59.759 Of course, every family doesn't. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:00.960 Get there. 00:22:01.279 --> 00:22:09.200 Some people listening, myself included, are still hoping for a phone call, still trying to understand the silence in estrangement. 00:22:09.839 --> 00:22:15.759 You can't make another person respond generously by being sufficiently patient or sufficiently good. 00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:20.079 But in their family, there was room for a different future. 00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:21.920 And I'm glad there was. 00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:32.880 Billie Jean and Alana married privately in October 2018, with former New York mayor David Dinkins officiating. 00:22:33.279 --> 00:22:38.960 After so many years together, they finally got to call the other one My Wife. 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:41.359 If you watch the U.S. 00:22:41.519 --> 00:22:46.160 Open now, you'll hear the name Billie Jean King attached to the National Tennis Center. 00:22:46.400 --> 00:22:55.759 The girl who was excluded from the photograph of the junior tennis tournament now has her name on the place where one of the world's biggest tournaments is played. 00:22:56.000 --> 00:22:58.000 And that makes me smile. 00:22:58.640 --> 00:23:06.640 But when I think about the whole story, the most interesting part to me are those years after the public outing in 81. 00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:12.000 The world knew and she was still trying to get comfortable with it herself. 00:23:12.480 --> 00:23:19.759 Still trying to protect people, still caring what other people thought about her because of other people's fear. 00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:22.799 I'm glad she's talked about those years. 00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:28.400 They give us a fuller person than the one we get in a highlights reel. 00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:39.359 And for anyone listening who has come out and still feels frightened or ashamed sometimes or unable to relax completely, I hope that part helps. 00:23:40.319 --> 00:23:42.319 You haven't done it wrong. 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:47.440 You probably spent a long time learning to hide, and it can take a long time to stop. 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:50.160 You're allowed to get help with that. 00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:54.960 You're allowed to be a capable person and still need somebody. 00:23:56.319 --> 00:24:01.599 When I was younger, I saw Billie Jean King on my television through the reaction of my family. 00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:05.200 Now I get to decide how I see her. 00:24:06.079 --> 00:24:15.599 And I see a woman who was very good at tennis, who got angry about unfairness and did something useful with that anger. 00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:24.640 Who loved people and hurt people, was hurt herself, and kept trying to understand her own life. 00:24:25.519 --> 00:24:32.559 And I see a woman who took longer than she wanted to feel at home in that life, and it even affected her health. 00:24:34.400 --> 00:24:41.680 Billie Jean, I wish the kid watching in our house had heard more about who you really are. 00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:52.880 I wish he'd heard about the girl on the public courts, the woman holding up those dollar bills, and the person brave enough to ask for help. 00:24:53.920 --> 00:24:57.440 I can only say I'm hearing it now. 00:24:58.319 --> 00:25:02.319 And now I think of you in the way you deserve. 00:25:03.279 --> 00:25:10.079 You're a hero, a trailblazer, a legend, and an icon. 00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:17.599 I'm Stan Stating, and now the secret is out. 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:33.440 I'd like to acknowledge that October is LGBTQ History Month, and it seems like the perfect time to dive into the stories of these people who made the beautiful community we have now possible. 00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:38.880 So please click the follow button and share these important stories with someone you love. 00:25:39.359 --> 00:25:42.319 If you have the time, please write a review. 00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:47.359 This actually goes a long way to helping us reach people who need to hear these stories. 00:25:47.920 --> 00:25:50.799 And thanks for spending this time with me. 00:25:51.119 --> 00:25:53.039 We'll see you next week.