Hailey Van Lith was the No. 11 pick in the WNBA draft on April 15, where her move to join the Chicago Sky became official. As her name was called and she made her way to the stage, the camera panned to capture her biggest supporters in the crowd. One in particular stood out: Van Lith’s boyfriend, Orlando Magic star Jalen Suggs.
“We love a supportive HAB,” someone commented on ESPN’s Instagram post showing footage of the couple embracing after her big moment. What’s a HAB, others wanted to know? It’s an acronym for the “husbands and boyfriends” of female athletes, the commenter explained. “The male version of WAG.WAGs — a term used to identify the wives and girlfriends of professional athletes — have long been a part of sports culture. (Not to mention pop culture; when Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy, the wives of British soccer stars Wayne Rooney and Jamie Vardy, respectively, went to court in 2022, the case was dubbed “Wagatha Christie.”) Being famous in one’s own right — see: Victoria “Posh Spice” Beckham or Taylor Swift — is no protection from being branded a WAG, though Axios says the latter superstar is part of a “changing guard of WAGs.” The role of a supportive female partner is evolving — but breaking free of the negative stereotypes associated with WAGs isn’t always easy
It’s a tough term, Kylie Kelce acknowledged in an episode of her Not Gonna Lie podcast earlier this year in which guest Kristin Juszczyk, a fashion designer who happens to be married to Kyle Juszczyk of the San Francisco 49ers, shared how she was trying to redefine that image.
“They really hate the term WAGs because it reduces you to who you’re married to,” Charlotte Wilder, co-host of The Sports Gossip Show, tells Yahoo Life.
Then how might people feel about flipping the label on the men cheering their female partners on from the sidelines? We asked sports experts and enthusiasts about the rise of the HABs — and what it can tell us about the changing perception of female sports.
Meet the HABs
The term “HAB” may not yet be widely used, but it’s been in practice well before Suggs. Consider Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian sitting in the stands while wife, Serena Williams, did battle on the tennis court. Or Andrew East, a former football player who’s more likely to be gushing about wife, Shawn Johnson, and her accomplishments as a (now retired) gymnast. Similarly, Jonathan Owens of the Chicago Bears negotiated time away from preseason training to watch wife, Simone Biles, compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
