ESPN's Laura Rutledge Admits She Feared For Her Career After Pregnancy

Laura Rutledge has enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top of ESPN in recent years. And she's managed all of it while also being a wife and mom. But as Mother's Day approaches, Rutledge is looking back on some of her initial fears of being a mom and a working professional in sports media.

Appearing on The Pivot, Rutledge was asked what Mother's Day means to her. Rutledge said that there was a point before she became pregnant where she was concerned that it would be too hard to chase her working dream while trying to build a family. She even admitted that she initially felt disappointed to find out she was pregnant.

"I think there was a long time where I thought it wouldn't be possible to be a mom and also do this," Rutledge said. "We were married for seven years, almost, before we even had kids. We kinda trying, and I was like, ‘Alright, well, it's not happening, so maybe it's not for me. Maybe we're gonna try later.' I'm chasing this career dream. I can't even visualize how it would be possible to have a child while doing what I was doing at the time in 2019 when I got pregnant with Reese. And I'll never forget finding out that I was pregnant and being so disappointed, which is, like, the worst thing.

"And I will tell you, Reese will know this, I will tell her when she's old enough to understand. I was disappointed because I thought that this was gonna end my career. ‘I'm building all this momentum; I can't get pregnant. I can't be on TV pregnant.' And there were other examples of women who had done it, but it did not feel like that was my story and my journey. How am I gonna do this? Even going through the pregnancy, I was, like, ‘Okay, this is it for me. I better do every single event I can possibly do before I have this child because my career is over after that.'"

The Good Side

But Rutledge said that in the years since she became pregnant with her daughter Reese and had her second child Jack that those moments have helped her define her career. She said that things have gotten better for her afterwards and accepts the challenge of juggling her career and motherhood.

"Fast forward, both of my children have been actually key career moments where things have gotten better afterward. And listen, it is a constant battle every single day of trying to juggle it all, and make sure that they have what they need, and I can be there for them, and I can also be there for this job, and there's no balance, that doesn't exist, right? I don't feel like I have it all because I feel like I could constantly lose it all. That's actually more what it feels like. So that's the reality of it."

Rutledge was rewarded for her years of hard work at ESPN and its affiliates with a multi-year deal from the company in 2025. She is now a full-time sideline reporter for Monday Night Football and has no shortage of significant roles at the company.

Copyright The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This story was originally published May 9, 2026 at 2:56 PM.