Former USWNT star, South Jersey native Carli Lloyd announces birth of her daughter after multiple rounds of IVF

Retired U.S. women’s national team star Carli Lloyd announced the birth of her first child on Monday after opening up about her yearslong struggle with infertility in May.

Lloyd’s daughter, Harper, was born Oct. 18 after two unsuccessful rounds of in vitro fertilization, Lloyd shared.

“So very grateful for this amazing blessing in our lives,” Lloyd, a Delran native, wrote on Instagram. “By far the hardest thing I have ever endured but the best thing I’ve ever done!”

After retiring in 2021 at age 39, Lloyd shared with Women’s Health magazine that she initially believed that she and her husband, Brian Hollins, would have minimal issues getting pregnant. But Lloyd struggled and ultimately went through three rounds of IVF, all while working as a soccer analyst with Fox Sports, including at the 2023 women’s World Cup, before she became pregnant in January.

“I’ve conquered the soccer world and I consider myself to be really strong, but I was at my weakest during this entire process,” Lloyd wrote of her IVF journey. “I want to show other women that it’s okay to struggle. It’s okay to feel broken and to feel hopeless, but to never give up and to keep going. We don’t know the future chapters of our lives, and it is important to just keep putting one foot in front of the other.”