11:24 AM ET
Kelly CohenESPN
Seattle Storm star and new Olympic gold medalist Breanna Stewart announced Monday that she and her wife, Marta Xargay Casademont, are now moms.
In identical Instagram posts, Stewart and Xargay Casademont revealed that their daughter, Ruby Mae Stewart Xargay, was born via surrogate on Aug. 9. The two also said in a YouTube video released through Bleacher Report and TOGETHXR that they married in a small, private ceremony in Seattle on July 6.
“I hope this continues to show people that there’s no perfect way to find love or have a family or create a family,” Stewart said in the video.
Stewart recently won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics with Team USA. The team won on Aug. 8, and Stewart flew back to Los Angeles after, immediately landed and flew to Idaho, where the baby was born.
Stewart and Xargay Casademont, who played for the Phoenix Mercury in 2015 and 2016, announced their engagement in May.
Stewart said that her Achilles rupture in April 2019 pushed her to freeze her eggs — the night of the injury, they started the process.
“When I decided to freeze my eggs, I didn’t really know why I was doing it. If I’m going to be honest, it was just the fact that I’m injured, I can’t play, this is the perfect opportunity, because when else am I going to get a two-week period where I’m not playing,” she said. “It was probably one of the best decisions I made, really in my life, because you’re setting yourself up for the future.”
After winning the WNBA championship in 2020 in the “Wubble,” she and Xargay Casademont decided it was time to grow their family.
It’s been quite the year since Stewart came back from her Achilles injury. In addition to winning the WNBA championship and being crowned Finals MVP in October 2020, she also won a EuroLeague title in April with UMMC Ekaterinburg.
“Why can’t I be the best player and also have a baby? But not carry a baby. You know, why can’t we do both?” Stewart said.
Stewart played Thursday in the WNBA’s Inaugural Commissioner’s Cup against the Connecticut Sun, scoring 17 points and winning MVP in the win. On Sunday, in the first official game back from the Olympic break, Stewart did not play.