When Angel Reese did the cover photoshoot in a swimsuit in 2023, she was unaware of the follies of fame. She instantly shot to attention and was in the limelight for her on-court rivalry with Caitlin Clark. However, during the 2023-24 NCAA season, Reese had to miss a few games for the LSU Tigers, which had her haters speculating on her college grades and off-court behavior. Then, when she lost the Elite Eight Finale in April, the former NCAA Champion broke down, revealing her issues. And all this learning has probably made her wish to be rich over being famous.

In the latest episode of ‘Unapologetically Angel’ on Thursday, Reese shed light on her hidden side, and why she wanted to choose money over popularity.

“I rather be rich than famous. Everybody wanna be famous. But they don’t really know what come with it. It’s unlike all the connections and stuff you make but sometimes you just live a normal life like we was talking about like just being able to walk down the street casually. And now I have always take pictures and sign autographs like sometime when I just want to live a normal 22 year old life like that’s what I would say,” Angel Reese stated.

Reese as per Yahoo Finance, currently has a net worth of nearly $2 million. While during the WNBA season, she would be earning $73,439, it is her endorsements that have got her a lot of money. The Maryland-born has signed deals with Beats by Dre, Tampax, Reebok, Amazon, PlayStation, and Goldman Sachs among others. She is surely on her way to being one of the most money-minting WNBA stars this season. The former NCAA Champion had previously during an interview in 2023 revealed that she wanted to grow her brand “as much as I can in college before I go to the WNBA,” and surely she seems to have fulfilled this wish.

As of now, Reese operates the  Angel C. Reese Foundation to spread the message of financial literacy among women. Such is the importance of being financially sound for her. And recently she took another step towards making money when she signed on Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier’s brainchild The Unrivaled League. But while she wants to keep making money, she has started detesting fame since it requires her to give up the simple pleasures of life like “walk(ing) down the street casually.” She had also shared the negative side of it when her team had been eliminated from the NCAA 2023-24 season.

Angel Reese breaks down while listing the downside of fame

When Reese won the national championship in the 2022-23 season, she wasn’t aware of what lay ahead. Going into the 2024 season, she was one of the most popular NCAA women’s ballers and had a lot of pressure to win. Then due to locker room issues as per her then-head coach Kim Mulkey, Reese took a break for four games. That absence from the court fueled a lot of rumors about her: from low grades at LSU to having issues with her teammate Flau’jae Johnson.

So when the Lady Tigers lost the chance to progress ahead in the NCAA tournament after the Iowa Hawkeyes defeated them, an emotional Reese broke down on stage. She expressed the downside of being popular and has since then always wanted to find solace, foregoing the chance to be relevant in the news

“I’ve been attacked so many times, death threats, I’ve been sexualized, I’ve been threatened, I’ve been so many things, and I’ve stood strong every single time,” Reese revealed that time.

And now with her choice today, she has once again demonstrated the difficulty of managing a life full of attention. Hopefully, the Chi-Town Barbie will be able to navigate the difficult path and perhaps come out on top once again.