WNBA star Elena Delle Donne reveals she has a girlfriend and they are engaged

Reigning WNBA MVP Elena Delle Donne revealed in a recent interview with Vogue magazine that she has a girlfriend and that the two of them are engaged to be married.

It was the Chicago Sky and Team USA member’s first public acknowledgement of her sexual orientation.

“It was just one of those articles where they came into my home, spent a couple days with me and Amanda is a huge part of my life,� Delle Donne told the Chicago Tribune of the interview that will appear in Vogue’s August issue.

“So to leave her out wouldn’t have made any sense. It’s not a coming out article or anything. I’ve been with her for a very long time now and people who are close to me know that and that’s that.�

The article, which has yet to appear online, makes the revelation in a low-key manner: “Elena divides her time between traveling with her team, the Chicago Sky, and her family’s home in the rolling green landscape of Wilmington, Delaware. She and her fiancee, Amanda Clifton, keep apartments in both Chicago and Wilmington.�

“I decided I’m not at all going to hide anything,� Delle Donne told the Tribune. “The biggest thing is respecting Amanda’s privacy as well. She’s not on the stage, she doesn’t need to be interviewed and I don’t want her to have to feel that way.

“As the future keeps moving on, I don’t plan on having our relationship out in the public and all this media on it, but obviously there’s excitement right now because people see it for the first time.�