13 fascinating facts you (probably) didn’t know about LGBTQ+ Lionesses captain Leah Williamson
Leah Williamson is the Lionesses’ bisexual captain. (Harriet Lander/Getty)
Leah Williamson is the Lionesses' bisexual captain. (Harriet Lander/Getty)
Queer England captain Leah Williamson is leading her team through the 2025 Euros, but her quirky personality shines just as brightly off the pitch.
Leah Williamson, who is rumoured to be dating former Miss USA Elle Smith, is a hugely popular figure in the UK and beyond, but there’s even more to her than meets the eye.
From being a Lionesses mascot to loving Dolly Parton, here are some interesting facts about England’s star footballer.
Leah Williamson’s career started early
She is truly a child prodigy and began playing football at the age of 6.
As a young player at Rushden & Diamonds Centre of Excellence, she played for a boy’s team.
Williamson then joined Arsenal’s Centre of Excellence in 2006 at the age of nine.
She was a Lionesses mascot
In what seems like destiny, at the age of 10, Williamson was a mascot for the Lionesses.
Even more bizarre is the fact that she accompanied Kelly Smith, the England captain at the time and her future teammate.
Smith autographed a photo for Williamson and told her to “dream big.” She certainly followed through with that!
She has nightmares
The footballer has shared that she has recurring nightmares about a Harry Potter character.
She has shared that Voldemort, Potter’s arch-nemesis, is the subject of her bad dreams.
She was just 17 when she made her debut
Williamson made her senior team debut the day after her 17th birthday.
She came onto the pitch as an 81st-minute substitute. However, Arsenal lost to Birmingham City 0–2 in the UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-final.
Her toes are… unusual
Williamson has shared that when she was born, her toes were pointed too far inwards.
“If they couldn’t have fixed it, it would have created problems when I started to grow,” she told the Guardian.
“I would have had to wear braces on my legs,” she says.
Leah Williamson is LGBTQ+
Williamson is part of the LGBTQ+ community. She came out in 2022 and has been an activist and supporter of the LGBTQ+ community.
As mentioned above, she’s rumoured to be in a relationship with former Miss USA and American model Elle Smith.
She considered athletics
Sport has always been in Williamson’s blood and for a while, she didn’t know if football was “the one.”
Briefly, she considered switching to athletics to become an Olympic athlete after watching long jumper Greg Rutherford at the 2012 Summer Olympics
She did end up at the Olympics, but as part of Team GB in 2021.
Leah Williamson loves Dolly Parton
When celebrating Arsenal winning the UEFA Women’s Champions League, Williamson was seen walking around with a big speaker blasting Dolly Parton’s song “Islands in the Stream.”
However, she has noted that her go-to karaoke song is a different Dolly track: the classic “9 to 5.”
She has endometriosis
Leah Williamson has endometriosis, a condition that can cause severe period pain as tissue, similar to the lining of the womb, grows in other places, like the ovaries and fallopian tubes.
She revealed it has made her anxious to play while menstruating, worried her condition would impact her game.
Williamson is happy to add her voice to calls for greater awareness of a problem that disrupts so many female lives. “You get to a certain age when you actually say this is a really big f***ing problem,” she told Women’s Health magazine.
“I’m pretty sure if men had periods we’d have figured out a way to stop them by now without doing any damage,” she said, adding that period pain remains “a really big f…ing problem” for female athletes.
Her favourite dish is teriyaki chicken stir fry
The meal is a mix of vegetables with chicken coated in a sweet and sticky sauce. It is often accompanied by rice or noodles.
Williamson is an author
The footballer picked up the pen in 2023 and became a published author.
Williamson wrote You Have the Power: Find Your Strength and Believe You Can with sports journalist Suzanne Wrack. The book is a guide for empowering young girls.
Then, Williamson also co-authored, with Jordan Glover, four children’s books.
The books chart a time-twisting adventure from Williamson and is loosely based on the Dick, Kerr Ladies and their brave protest against the ban on women’s football.
In 1921, the FA banned women from playing football in its stadiums as it was deemed “quite unsuitable for females”.
But women’s football was kept alive by teams like Dick, Kerr Ladies, who played games in front of tens of thousands of people for charity.
She trained as an accountant
Though she is a professional, full-time footballer, like many women footballers, Williamson wanted to ensure she had a Plan B.
So, Williamson started training in accountancy as a contingency plan for after her football career.
She undertook a part-time course in accountancy through the Football Association.
She’s an Aries
Born on 29 March 1997, Williamson is an Aries.
The first astrological sign in the zodiac is known for its pioneering, energetic, and sometimes impulsive nature.
@pinknews With England playing Sweden tonight (Thursday 17 July) in the quarter finals of the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025, here are 13 facts you might not know about the Lionesses captain Leah Williamson! Did we miss any? Comment below! #Lionesses #leahwilliamson #womenseuros #WomensFootball #england #lgbtqia ♬ original sound – wrld_of_lyrics
You can read more about the Women’s Euros here.
