The Washington Football Team’s co-owner insisted Wednesday that the past year has been a “nightmare” — because her kids caught flack for the teams’ recent scandals and their less-than-stellar on-field record.
Speaking out for the first time since the team’s “toxic” culture was exposed in July, Tanya Snyder blamed the media for reporting the story — telling The Adam Schefter Podcast she was “horrified” by the backlash her family endured.
“It’s been one of the most difficult years for me, Dan and our family’s lives,” she said in the interview, referencing her billionaire husband and team co-owner, Daniel Snyder.
“It’s hard. I get a lump in my throat. It’s a cross between a crime show and a nightmare movie,” she whined about the public relations disaster.
Snyder, 54, who became the team’s co-CEO in June, moaned that her kids, who are in their teens and 20s, faced some teasing over an NFL investigation that found sexual harassment and bullying ran rampant in the team’s work environment.
“They didn’t ask to be thrown into this life that they’re in,” she said. “[They got] a lot of flack … Especially [my son] Jerry, I think, people give him a lot of — people within his school and just around.”
Her kids also caught flack when the team lost, Snyder said.
“Oh absolutely. I think more so when they’re in school — the girls graduated from college now, so not as much … Jerry is still affected by it, so we’re still working with him on it to not to take a lot of it personal.”
She added, “[My kids] haven’t whittled up and run away in a corner and I’m just really proud of them. I’m proud of their strength and who they’ve become in standing. And I think it’s from seeing their parents stand up and be strong as well,” she said.
Snyder said she stuck it out in the position to teach her kids not to run from challenges.
“I had a kind of mama bear instinct that just like a lightning bolt went up through my body,” she said. “And, you know, I think we could have very easily ran away and been fine and sailed away, and a few people have even asked us that, but that’s not who we are or what I want to teach my kids.”
Snyder became CEO days before news of the team’s internal culture issues — and the NFL’s $10 million fine — broke, though she’d reportedly long been in talks about the position.
She said she now plans “take action” to change the team, which last year retired the controversial Washington Redskins name and logo.
“When you’re watching someone throw a ball and you’re like, ‘Oh, I would’ve done this, I would’ve done that, ‘I’m diving in,” Tanya Snyder said. “I’m so excited and I’m able to implement and make changes that I’ve wanted to make for a long time.”