Billie Jean King Continues to Crusade for Gender Equality
By Spectrum News Staff Los Angeles
PUBLISHED 11:22 AM ET Oct. 14, 2019 UPDATED 9:59 AM ET Oct. 15, 2019
LOS ANGELES — LA Stories with Giselle Fernandez interviews Billie Jean King – a tennis legend, crusader for social change and gender equality, and a visionary whose legacy is ever-evolving.
What she defines as one of the greatest honors of her life, Billie Jean shares her recent full circle celebration of the new Long Beach Library being named after her. Listed as one of the most important Americans of the 20th century by Life magazine, she credits her hometown of Long Beach for making her the success she is in sports and beyond.
From the owner’s bunker at Dodger Stadium, Billie Jean talks to LA Stories about being a lifelong Dodgers fan and her dream fulfilled being a part-owner of the franchise. Billie Jean also reveals the shock, trauma, and consequences of being painfully and publicly outed as gay back in 1981.
The champion for social justice opens up about having homophobic parents and that influencing her own homophobia, self-acceptance, and eating disorder. She explains to Giselle why she believes women and girls should be brave and not perfect.
The sports pioneer who has never shied from controversy also shares why champions must always adjust and her belief that supports that: “Pressure is a privilege.”
At 75, Billie Jean King is as influential as ever and makes clear she is “not done yet.”
LISTEN PODCAST