Lauren Jackson - Celebrity

Celebrity

By 2003, she was being recognised around the world from countries like Portugal and Japan. She said of her private life: "I don't really have a private life. I've found it difficult as an athlete, to maintain a relationship. It's not one of my best points but I've got family and friends who compensate for that. When I was younger I went out and had a lot of fun, and there were moments when people criticised me for that, and you know what, I'm young, I'm going to do that, and anyone who is going to get on me for that ... I really didn't care." She does not like to go clubbing for two reasons: First, she gets recognised by too many people. Second, everyone wants to comment on her height. In response to getting a hug from Yao Ming at the 2008 Summer Olympics during the closing ceremonies, internet rumours started that Jackson and the married Ming were romantically involved. These rumours were incorrect. Jackson said of them: "When we came across this Yao Ming thing it was like, 'Oh...My...God! When I tell you we were in hysterics...because anybody who knows me knows that would be the last thing on my mind. A 7 foot 8 Chinese man? That's just not my thing. I really respect him as a player. And people who know me know I can be wild and over-the-top. I'm affectionate and that night I guess I was affectionate with the wrong person. I guess the Chinese people don't do that stuff very often, so the cultural was a big thing. But I don't care. You have to laugh about things or you'll be crying, which I would probably have been doing anyway . I made the most of my last night at the Olympics and had a great time." She partied a fair amount in her early 20s. By 2010, she was not able to stay out at night clubs until 5:30 am any more because she lacked the stamina.

When people google Jackson, some of the first search results feature her in the nude. Jackson said of this: "Instead of being known for my basketball skills, all of these nudie shots are always the first thing you see." She posed nude in an Australian magazine, Black+White, that featured Olympic athletes who were set to compete in Athens in the 2004 Summer Olympics. The expensively printed magazine/book has been produced for the last three Olympic Games and, by the 2004 edition, was considered uncontroversial in Australia with its "artistic" approach to nude photography, and its equal coverage of male and female athletes, although it did create a stir in the United States. She also posed for the 2005 edition of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Of posing nude, she said, "if offered the opportunity, I think that it's a personal decision. Whether you do it for the money or whatever, again, I think it's a personal decision. I don't know whether I would say yes or no. I guess you cross that bridge when you come to it. I don't think it's a bad thing, I'm not against it."

Jackson has had multiple injuries. In 2008, after the Olympics, she had surgery to fix her ankle. In 2009, she had two stress fractures in her back. In December 2010, she had an Achilles injury. She sustained the injury playing in Australia. Between January 2011 and February 2012, she had surgeries to assist with Achilles and hip injuries. She had surgery on her left hip acetabular labrum in June 2011 in Vail, Colorado at the Richard Steadman Clinic. She said of the surgery: "This is a really, really tough decision, but after talking with my doctors and my family, we felt that immediate surgery is the best course of action. With something painful like this hip injury, I want to be especially proactive. I plan to stay in Seattle to be here with my team and try my best to be back on the court as soon as possible. My goal is to be at full strength by the end of the season." She did rehab twice a day in an attempt to speed recovery. She was on crutches for a while after the surgery.

As Jackson got older, she took on a more activist role, working for domestic violence charities and helping children from Australia's outback get involved in sport. In December 2002, she helped launch the Smith Family Toy Drive at the Canberra Centre with the help of Ainslie school children. She is the patron for the NSW Rape Crisis Centre. She is passionate about preventing domestic abuse. In 2010, she visited young basketball players at Batesman Bay's Moruya Basketball.