“WAG” has become the unofficial shorthand for anyone dating a pro athlete — a nickname that’s half pop-culture tag, half internet fixation. And while some partners wear it like a fun badge, others aren’t exactly eager to be boxed in by it. Count Amon-Ra St. Brown’s longtime girlfriend, Brooklyn Adams, in that second group.
During an interview with People published Tuesday, November 2, the 26-year-old nursing graduate laid out why the title doesn’t sit right with her. “We’re more than wives and girlfriends of athletes,” she told the outlet. “I have a name, and if you got to know me, then you’d realize that I’m more than just a girlfriend.”
Adams recently teamed up with Abercrombie for its “In Her Own League” campaign — a project that flipped “WAG” into “Woman Achieving Greatness and Success.” It resonated with her, but she’s still not claiming the original term. “I love that they put a spin on that. I don’t like the WAG title,” she said. “Nothing against anybody who likes it. It’s cute that girls put their own twist on it. But to be given that title, I’m not a fan.”
Not everyone feels the same way about the term, though. Tennis influencer Morgan Riddle — who dates ATP player Taylor Fritz — previously told Glamour she “always embraced it,” and sees it the same way she sees the word “influencer.”
Several NFL partners feel the same. Rachel Bush, who’s married to Jordan Poyer, has said she’s unbothered by the label because she knows “there's other things going on with me.” Savanna Jackson, engaged to Malaki Starks, once called it “trendy” and said she likes the sense of community that comes with it. "Especially being a rookie, a lot of the veterans, their wives and girlfriends definitely have been super helpful and so supportive because they've been through it and they get it,” she told People in October.
Others sit closer to Adams. During a February episode of Not Gonna Lie, Kylie Kelce — who is married to retired Eagles center Jason Kelce — said she disliked the label because there is “a negative connotation [associated] with the term WAG.” Kristin Juszczyk, who joined her on the episode, agreed and said the word “makes me crawl out of my skin.”