England defender and Chelsea captain Millie Bright says women's footballers are not "items" and "nobody owns us" after fans made a derogatory comment about her performance in a Blues game.
The comment from the supporter came after Chelsea beat Aston Villa 1-0 in the Women's Super League earlier this month.
Bright had just taken a photo with the fan when she overheard the criticism. She released a statement the next day where she asked fans to "please be more mindful of your comments".
Millie Bright: "I slept on it and it was on my mind all night"
Bright was asked about the situation before England take on Portugal in the Nations League on Friday night.
She said: "The fans are incredible and I usually have good responses.
"If there is a message to be sent, it is that we are human. We are somebody's partner and somebody's daughter. We are not items. Nobody owns us.
"We own ourselves - and that needs to be reminded and told."
And she added while she was not necessarily bothered about the critical comment, it was the fact it was said after she had taken the time to take a photo and sign some things for them.
"I was really taken aback and disappointed. That was the biggest thing," Bright said.
"I wasn't actually bothered about the opinion of my performance, it was more the fact I had gone to the fans to give my time. To then be disrespected afterwards immediately, I just thought 'I'm here off my own back'.
"I slept on it and it was on my mind all night. Comments like that can really affect you."
Women's footballers are usually seen post-match taking time for fans. But the Bright situation is not the first time players have overheard comments or were criticised for not stopping for fans.
In 2023, goalkeeper Mary Earps was hit with criticism for not signing an autograph and said she was finding it hard to "keep fans happy".
She said at the time: "We love [meeting fans] but it's becoming really difficult to maintain.
"The accessibility that people get to us as players is something that I think is a hot topic of discussion. It's something that we as players are experiencing in a very different way with the profile of the game changing.
"At times it's becoming really difficult to keep everybody happy and to interact with as many people as possible."
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