Kelly Smith was named a football tycoon alongside Pele, Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, but the former English female skipper remains as humble as when she first kicked the ball. She is one of the best players to win four Premier League titles, three FA Cup titles, one Champions League title and 117 Lioness caps. This is two more caps than David Beckham won at Lions.
Still, the realistic icon avoids the entertainment lifestyle in favor of the domestic bliss of American wife DeAnna Dobosz and her children Rocco (4) and Lucia (2).
Kelly, who welcomed us to her home in North London, who was a skipper for the Arsenal Women’s Team and was awarded an MBE for serving beautiful games in 2008, for her fame and good luck. I admit that I have never played in London.Kelly, Deanna and her children Lucia and Rocco
(Image: 2020)
“I was put on this planet at once to help raise the profile of women’s games, and I hope I did that,” says the modest 42-year-old. “I’m not in a bad mood for male players to be celebrated more.”
Kelly, who retired from an international mission in 2015 and retired from Arsenal in 2016, is now focusing on raising children born through IVF donors, alongside DeAnna, who is involved in mergers and acquisitions.
Just a week before our exclusive interview, the couple celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary and it’s clear they love them deeply. Deanna gasps as Kelly walks in a stunning red dress specially styled for filming. May her wife blush. “I don’t have a filter. I have to praise her. She’s so gorgeous!”
Here the couple tells us everything about life after football ….
Thank you! How did you meet
Kelly: I met a holiday in Egypt in May 2013.
Deanna: It was love at first sight for Kelly. She called her friend directly, saying she had met someone.
Kelly: It was also for you. Deanna lived in Edinburgh and I lived in Watford, so I commute for the first six months to a year.
Deanna: Then I moved to London, where we refurbished the property.
And the marriage came …
Kelly: Yes, we married two best friends at the Pergola Gardens in Hampstead Heath five years ago. It was only four of us.
Deanna: I wanted a small and intimate ceremony. Then we took Eurostar to Paris, where the euro began. On the first day of our marriage, we were in Paris with all these fans and watched football on the big screen. It was incredible.
Are you a big football fan, De Anna?
Deanna: I am now! But when I met Kelly, I didn’t know who she was – she told me she was a PE teacher! I didn’t know anything about women’s soccer. I didn’t know that such a job existed.
Kelly, why didn’t you say it right away?
Kelly: At that time, I had a broken leg and left to clear my head and recover. I didn’t want to talk about football at all.
Deanna: Moreover, you wanted me to like you about who you are, not what you did. But a few days later, someone said Kelly was an English and Arsenal footballer. “What !? She said she was a teacher!” So for the first few days I knew her as a PE teacher Kelly Smith.
Kelly: Eventually it became beautiful. [Laughs] And we worked within 6 months.
Deanna: We got married three years later and Rocco arrived in 2017.
Did the kids always appear on the card?
Deanna: From the first day!
Kelly: I immediately wanted a child with her. And you felt the same, didn’t you? We knew it was for each other.
Deanna : I knew they were made for each other, although they are quite different in character.
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Who plays what role in the family?
Deanna : Kelly is a caretaker. She takes care of her children and makes sure that the house has a staple. I provide entertainment and I look pretty great. But we are balanced. We learned to work together. In the pandemic, I was working really hard from home. So Kelly had both children at home on her own throughout the first blockade. I had to find the rhythm in it. And it was hard.
Did it lead to a conflict?
Kelly: Sometimes. But I think we are communicating well. If things go wrong, we’re pretty open and honest about it. Even if you get into a fight, you won’t go to bed angry. Once calmed down, the problem will be resolved.
Deanna: Kelly taught me a lot about not worrying about the little things. And she learned to control more as well. In football, they are all told. What to eat, where to go, when to sleep. When you come out of it, it’s difficult to readjust normally.
Kelly: I wasn’t confident in doing a lot of things about my parents every day. I wasn’t confident when I called the school or asked for lunch.
Does it surprise us to see you were the team captain?
Kelly: I was always confident in the pitch, it was my environment. I am in charge and the winner. I set an example.What did people value
I was saying. But off the pitch, I’m modest and shy. I find it difficult to have a conversation from time to time. I don’t think it’s very interesting! When I started working on TV, I really had to push myself to do that. When it comes to soccer, I don’t think I’m good at it.
So how did motherhood change it for you?
Kelly: I had to try to get out of myself for my kids – I learned how to email to school, how to set a playdate, and so on.
Deanna, have you always been a more natural parent?
Deanna: I never really wanted a child. I’m 49 now, and the moment I met Kelly, I wanted them. I didn’t want to carry it, but I wanted Kelly to carry my embryo. However, I was told that the age difference was too large.Lucia and Rocco are from the same origin [sperm] Donor and Kelly carried both. They both look like her.
Was it a problem between you?
Kelly: I’m upset several times. I don’t think they look like you. But they have a lot of your personality. And that is a big part of their lives.
Deanna: Everything Kelly brings to the world is very nice.
How do you talk to your children about raising them as a homosexual couple?
Deanna : We are reading a book about how all families are different. Some children have two dads, while others have two mothers. Many of our friends are also two mummies.
Kelly: I don’t know how many homosexual couples are in Rocco’s nursery, but …
Deanna: Kelly is worried that they will be bullied. But if we give them confidence and education, I’m sure they’re okay. They are surrounded by so many different and diverse people. Rocco understands. When he gets older, if he is interested in exploring a biological father, we make it work.
Do you have more children?
Deanna: I think it’s done.
Kelly: There is one embryo left. If we were young when we started encountering an in vitro fertilization journey, we would have had another journey. But it was difficult to raise them in the blockade, which made us realize that we are good. There is one for each, so it’s perfect.
Kelly, you have been open to rehab due to alcohol problems in the past. Did having a family rest those demons?
Kelly : Yes, of course. Having a child really supported me from the ground up, and that is now my main focus. Soccer has been my sole purpose for 25 years. I was very ambitious. But after a while, I’m devoting myself to becoming a mother.
Deanna: Kelly didn’t want to retire until she got pregnant, so she had to focus on something after football.
Well, many soccer players are having a hard time after retirement. They feel lost …
Kelly : exactly. In a sense, you lose yourself in the game when that’s all you know. And getting pregnant was the focus I needed.
Please tell us a little about your stay in rehabilitation.
Kelly: I drank too much when I was playing in America. He recovered from a serious knee injury and was off the pitch. At that time, when football was robbed, I lost myself. I didn’t know who I was. I used alcohol every day and drank until I fainted. I got well and returned to the pitch, but then was out for another nine months due to another injury. And the cycle started again. I was trying to hide it from my parents, but my dad knew. He jumped out into New Jersey, took me home and I went to rehab.
Have you never drank alcohol?
Kelly: I still drink from time to time, but I’m not crazy about it.
You have been likened to the best male player …
Kelly: I am very humble. I was always Watford’s Kelly Smith. I love to play. I felt very free and knew I had a divinely gifted talent, and I loved every minute on that pitch. But I had to work on it. When I was young playing in the park, it all helped me.
Have you ever felt a grudge against a male player earning more?
Kelly: That was the time when I was born. I’m not upset or in a bad mood. I was placed on this planet at once to raise the profile of women’s games. You can’t be bitter. Women’s matches are still up.
Kelly looks forward to returning to the pitch with Mark Wright, Olly Murs and Marvin Humes at this year’s Soccer Aid.
(Image: ITV)
Did you come out as a soccer player and that was a problem for you?
Deanna: You didn’t come out until you retired, didn’t you?
Kelly: My teammates knew it and I was comfortable with it, but I never publicly acknowledged it. Homophobia is not something I personally experienced in the game, I just wanted to stay private. But when I met De Anna, I knew she was alone, so I just relaxed. It was like a big sigh of relief – I didn’t care who was thinking what. I suddenly felt really comfortable talking about it, and I never looked back.
Deanna: When I was a teenager, I bust out of the closet!
Finally, will you be back on the pitch with Mark Wright of Soccer Aid in September?
Kelly: I will! I’m excited. It’s a lot of fun, and people like Olly Murs and Mark always want it. They want to win like me!
To support Soccer Aid or buy tickets for this year’s event, please visit: Socceraid.org.uk
British legend Kelly Smith says motherhood has changed her life and invites OK!In her house
Source link British legend Kelly Smith says motherhood has changed her life and invites OK!In her house
