Breanna Stewart on growing up and embracing herself

As a four-time NCAA champion and Final Four MOP, Olympic gold medalist and now WNBA All-Star, Breanna Stewart has been setting new standards for greatness for years. Now she’s adding Body Issue alum to her list of accomplishments. It’s all part of her effort to reclaim her voice — and her body — after coming forward with her powerful story of sexual abuse in October 2017. Here’s what she had to say about her journey.

I’ve really opened myself up to the world as far as the things I’ve gone through in my life. [Posing in the Body Issue] is another part — you just take off the robe and share everything else! It feels like the right time.

Once I really fell in love with basketball, I realized that I’m able to do a lot of the things within the sport. I realized there weren’t a lot of players like that. I wanted to be the best. I wanted to win and be the best player I could be.

My wingspan is 7-1. When I was in high school, at a USA basketball event, we measured my wingspan. Usually it’s supposed to be the same length as your height. But mine’s not. I’m 6-4 — that’s 9 inches!

My arms are so long, getting clothes is a struggle. I’ve actually gotten a lot better at it, but a lot of times you wear three-quarter stuff. Buy three-quarter sleeves, bunch it up, and make it look like it’s supposed to be like that.

When I was in eighth grade, I got the nickname Bean. It was from one of the seniors on the team. She called me Bean because I looked like a string bean. It definitely fit — I was really skinny back then.

By my junior year, I was 6-4 and I was done growing. That’s when I grew into my body. It was about understanding how to use my length, how to make it all work together on the court. At the same time, I got better dribbling the ball, shooting the ball. So that made it a lot easier to figure out how I can shoot with so much arm.

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