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Caitlin Clark Says Her Parents “Struggle” with the Hate She Gets, Because “We’re Regular People With Feelings.”

Updated 5 days ago, August 13, 2026

The two-time All-Star says she’s learned to block out the noise, but her parents can’t do the same. When the racial debates and cheap-shot arguments pile up, they take it personally.

Sophie Cunningham and Caitlin Clark sitting on the Indiana Fever bench during a game against the Phoenix Mercury — Sophie Cunningham (#8) and Caitlin Clark (#22) share a bench moment during Indiana Fever’s home game against Phoenix Mercury at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on July 30, 2025. Photo by Dylan Buell / Getty Images.

The letter followed a June 24 game in Indianapolis where Phoenix’s Alyssa Thomas made fist contact with Clark’s throat during a loose-ball scramble. No foul was called live. The league later upgraded it to a Flagrant 2 and suspended Thomas one game. Clark left the game early with a back issue, and Fever coach Stephanie White called the no-call “egregious” and “absolutely unacceptable.”

A female basketball player in a navy Indiana Fever jersey holds a basketball in shooting position during pregame warmups in an arena. — Clark takes aim during pregame warmups before Indiana Fever’s road matchup against the Atlanta Dream at State Farm Arena on June 20, 2026. Photo by Colin Hubbard / Getty Images.

Eleven House Republicans, led by Rep. August Pfluger, put the WNBA “on notice” in a letter saying Clark has been “hip-checked, poked in the eye, and struck in the throat during games.” They wrote that the incidents go “far beyond routine physical play” and floated Department of Justice, EEOC, and Department of Labor scrutiny if the pattern amounts to a hostile work environment.

Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever being fouled by Maria Conde of the Toronto Tempo during a WNBA game — Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark draws a foul from Toronto Tempo’s Maria Conde during a WNBA game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on June 16, 2026. Photo by Andy Lyons / Getty Images.

That’s the backdrop for what Clark told Michael Lee of The Washington Post. “They see all this stuff, too. You have to remember, we’re regular people with feelings. My parents have feelings. It can definitely be hard at times,” she said of her mom and dad.

Caitlin Clark poses with four family members on a basketball court, one holding a black commemorative basketball with the number 22 on it. — Caitlin Clark stands with her family at Carver-Hawkeye Arena during a jersey retirement ceremony held before Iowa’s Big Ten home game against USC on February 2, 2025. Photo by Keith Gillett / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images.

Clark, the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft, said she’s had to build a defense her parents don’t have. “I feel like I have a pretty good skill of blocking everything out,” she said. “Being in this position, you better have that skill, or else it’s going to break you at some point.”

She also pushed back on how much of the story has drifted from the game itself. “I think it’s hard for people to remember, I just love playing basketball. This is my job. This is what I’m here for. I’m not here for all the other stuff,” she said.

Three women standing outdoors on a golf course; the two on the left wear blue Indiana caddie bibs numbered 10 and 8, while the woman on the right wears a white Nike golf outfit and cap. — On the 16th tee at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida, Caitlin Clark — dressed in a Nike golf outfit and white cap — shares a laugh with Lexie Hull and Sophie Cunningham, both wearing Indiana caddie bibs, ahead of The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge on November 12, 2025. Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice / Getty Images.

The resentment feeding the pile-on isn’t only online. Candace Parker recently tore into the peer vote that ranked Clark the 11th-best guard in the league, saying the players who put her that low need to “go to a therapist and figure out what childhood issues you have.”

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