The wife of former NFL journeyman Louis Leonard is giving fans a look at what life is actually like for some former players.
“My husband survived the NFL, but now he’s surviving everything it left behind,” Lacey Leonard said via an Instagram Reel on Saturday, January 17.
“People see the glory, the lights, the crowds, but they don’t see this — the aftermath, the pain, the stiffness, the tremors, the battle his body fights every single day,” she continued as the video showed her husband making his way through a hospital in a wheelchair.
“Don’t romanticize this life,” she added. “The real work happens after the game is long over.”
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Lacey wrote over the Reel, “The NFL didn’t prepare us for this part.”
Louis, 41, was a defensive tackle in the NFL from 2007 to 2010, playing for six teams and tallying 33 career tackles. He and Lacey met as freshmen at Fresno State University and share two kids. After divorcing in 2012, the couple remarried in 2018.
“This is our reality,” she continued. “Physical therapy at the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center, a warrior learning to move again, step-by-step and punch-by-punch.”
Through it all, she said, Louis “doesn’t complain.”
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“He shows up, he fights, he keeps going,” Lacey said. “This is strength, this is courage, this is life after the NFL. It’s not all glitz and glam, and it does come with a price.”
“If you’re a wife, partner, or caregiver navigating this life AFTER the NFL too, you’re not alone,” she wrote in the caption. “You can connect with me here for support, resources, and real conversations.”
Other former NFL players supported Lacey and Louis in the comments.
“People just don’t know!!!!” Hall of Famer Terrell Owens wrote.
Former linebacker and current actor Terry Crews added, “Amen🙏🏾❤️🔥🔥🔥🔥.”
Faris Khan, a former Duke University tennis player who now works as a personal trainer, added in a comment with over 700 likes, “I trained a retired NFL Lineman. He is not even 50 yet and from his own words he said the pain his body has now was not worth the millions he made 😌.”
Lacey revealed in October 2025 that Louis is battling Parkinson’s Disease and stage-4 kidney disease. In another Instagram Reel, she showed a montage of photos from Louis’ playing days before transitioning to a clip of him trying to walk with crutches.
“The NFL only provides 5 years of health coverage — then a cliff,” she wrote in the caption. “Hyperbaric therapy: denied as ‘experimental,’ even with a physician’s note.”
She continued, ”This is life after the league. The outfits and the noise fade; the paperwork and the pain don’t. I share our story and the knowledge that I have with hopes that it might help someone else.”
Lacey has done more than just share her message on social media. She is also a member of Off the Field Player’s Wives Association, composed of active and retired NFL players’ wives. The association’s mission is “to perform and support philanthropic initiatives that enhance the quality of life for those in the community,” according to Lacey’s personal website.