Jenni Hermoso, striker for Pachuca and the Spanish national soccer team, gave an interview to ‘GQ’ magazine after being named ‘GQ Woman of the Year’ in which she opened up about everything that has happened around the non-consensual kiss that Luis Rubiales, former president of the RFEF, gave her at the celebration of the achievement of the Women’s World Cup.
The footballer regrets having had to suffer a lot since that act happened. “I have had to assume the consequences of an act that I did not provoke, that I had not chosen nor premeditated. I’ve even received threats, and that’s something you never get used to,” Hermoso laments.
Hermoso does not hide when it comes to saying that professional help has been essential to not sink by what happened after winning the final of the World Cup: “Having to tell it again and again was doing me a lot of damage. But I know I had to let it out somehow. I’m still working on it with the help of my psychologist, with whom I’ve been working for many years.
“For me, mental health is as important as the daily training, as the hours I have to sleep to be able to go out on the field. Thanks to her I feel strong and I’m not falling apart or thinking about not wanting to play soccer anymore.”
The ‘SeAcabo’ movement
After Luis Rubiales’ act in the collection of World Cup medals, the #SeAcabo [Me Too] movement emerged in networks that erected Jenni as a feminist reference. The striker believes that all this has served to make many people more aware of what feminism means.
“With everything that has happened, I think many of us have become more aware of what the word ‘feminism’ really means, including many friends and family members. We, in soccer, have experienced firsthand the struggle for equality. We have been called capricious. It has always been said that we wanted to be paid the same as the boys and it wasn’t true. It makes me very angry that they say that women’s soccer does not generate as much as men’s.
“Obviously we know that, and we have never asked to be paid the same as men. Obviously we know that and we have never asked to be paid like them. We simply wanted the basics: to have a minimum wage, to be respected and to be given the opportunity to do something very big. As soon as we got it, we won a world championship,” admits Hermoso.
From everything bad, positive things can come out of it, and from what Hermoso has had to go through after Rubiales’ kiss, she believes that good things can also come out of it, “I want to be remembered as a person who has wanted to leave Spain at the top but, above all, as someone who has tried to change many mentalities. Fortunately or unfortunately, there is this history, but I am going to learn to take advantage of it positively to fight for what I believe is good for society.
“The #SeAcabo [Me Too] movement should bring a new era. These months, with everything that has happened, my mind has gone a bit off the soccer path,” insists the Spanish international.
The public support received by Hermoso and the players of the national soccer team has been unprecedented, with personalities from all areas of sport or culture, along with countless anonymous people: “I am very grateful that so many people were with me, with us. Actresses, singers and footballers, some of them rivals with whom we had faced in the World Cup, or the English national team, whom we beat in the final. All that gave me the strength to continue and to think that I had to go through this for everyone. There are many teammates who needed someone to raise their voice”.
She would have liked to have had more support from male footballers
Without wanting to get into controversy, Hermoso does recognize that she would have liked to feel more unanimous support from the players, “I understand that everyone thinks the way they think and I would also love to be able to focus only on my sport, but when you see unfair situations, you have to be on one side or the other. People will hate me or love me, but I have my way of thinking and I don’t mind saying it openly: their support I don’t know if it would have made everything easier, but it certainly would have helped us a lot.”
She insists that having all the players as one has helped them to advance a lot in a short time in their labor rights and in the perception of society, “We have the philosophy of being united and doing what we feel, and so we have achieved everything we have achieved so far.”
Her return to the national team
After the World Cup won by Spain, Hermoso was left out of the first call-up by the new coach, Montse Tom, but she was called up for the second training camp. It was a complicated moment for the Pachuca striker, because of the memories she had of Rubiales’ non-consensual kiss. However, soccer also won out in this case.
“It was a pretty tough day, I was coming back after everything that had happened. I hadn’t seen my teammates either, nor had I put on my national team clothes, nor the shirt with the star. I left the house calm, then I had some downturns, but in general I try to be happy. There’s nothing better for a footballer than to be able to play for her country,” said Hermoso.
The Spanish international admits that in both good and bad times she takes refuge in ‘her’ Madrid, Carabanchel, and above all in her loved ones, “Whenever I arrive in Spain, the first thing I do is go to my parents’ house. My uncles and cousins come, I see my niece, we eat cocido…. I’m a very family-oriented person.”
Hermoso has grown up in a modest environment in Madrid, something that has helped her to forge a personality in which social equality is very important.
“I have always lived in a humble neighborhood and it is essential to take into account the worker. Thanks to this sport we have a position and we can change many lives, even if we are not fully aware of it. Now, as champions, we are listened to more.
“On a personal level, I don’t fight for status. For me, my life is my neighborhood, my family, my people, the most basic things. I will never do anything just to make more money. To be able to fight for this is another pride and that’s where I want to be noticed. If I have to put my face to make a change, then go ahead.”