Former SJSU volleyball player Brooke Slusser has spoken out on her horror at discovering her roommate Blaire Fleming was secretly transgender.
Slusser and Fleming shared a four-bedroom apartment in Santa Clara, California and became close friends beginning in 2023. But Slusser now says she didn’t know she was living with a biological male and that had she been aware, she would have behaved differently.
Speaking to Fox, Slusser said: ‘You find out you’re just chilling in a bed with a man that you have no idea about… I was unknowingly sharing a bed at that time with a man.
‘Watching movies snuggled up in bed, like, all the normal things you’d think girls do in an apartment, like, my bathroom is across the hall from my bedroom and I’m going back and forth and everyone’s out doing their thing, and I probably would have covered up more.
‘I would have changed everything about what I was doing in that apartment if I would have known that it was a man. So it’s just hard to fully say I can grasp all of that when it was almost two years of me living with this situation.’
Slusser currently has a lawsuit against the NCAA and Mountain West Conference, saying that she didn’t know Fleming was transgender and that the stress and trauma caused her to develop an eating disorder.
Brooke Slusser said she shared a bed with ex-SJSU teammate Blaire Fleming without knowing she was transgender
Fleming, who is a biological male, was at the center of fierce controversy at San Jose State
Fleming hit back at those allegations in December, telling Fox at the time: ‘I really don’t care or feel bad for her.
‘She literally would weigh herself 2-3x a day and keep track of it on her whiteboard in her room. And she didn’t drop her classes, she failed out, hope that helps!’
Slusser slammed Fleming’s remarks in her latest Fox interview, saying: ‘It wasn’t until all the craziness started that my healthy lifestyle turned very unhealthy into not eating the amount I should.’
Fleming says the impact of the eating disorder, combined with overall stress and anxiety, caused her to lose her menstrual cycle for nine months and left her fearing if she would ever be able to have children.
‘I want to have the dream future that I envision for myself of having kids in the future, I want as many as possible, and I think if that weren’t able to happen, that would break my heart,’ she said.
Slusser says she blames her coach, Todd Kress, for encouraging her to live with Fleming when she was unaware of Fleming’s background.
San Jose State’s 2024 season – Fleming’s last with the school – was marred by forfeits from rival schools and protests.
A former coach on the San Jose State team also launched a lawsuit last October after claiming she was suspended due to her filing a Title IX complaint against the school and Fleming.
Fleming pictured in volleyball action for San Jose State, has hit back at multiple claims about her time with the team
Melissa Batie-Smoose was suspended in November 2024 after filing a complaint which contained multiple allegations against Fleming.
In the complaint, Batie-Smoose accuses Fleming of conspiring with an opposing player to have team co-captain Brooke Slusser spiked in the face during a match on October 3.
Batie-Smoose also claims that SJSU gave Fleming other special accommodations, including, ‘Not showing up to practice with no excuses, sitting in the stands eating while practice was going on, those kind of things.’
The coach says those exceptions were exclusively for Fleming.
In response to Batie-Smoose’s claims about those accommodations, Fleming told Fox News: ‘The only times I showed up to practice with “no excuse” and sat in the stands was when I was injured and couldn’t play.
‘Brooke Slusser and Melissa need to get a life.’
Fleming and SJSU have been contacted for comment on Slusser’s latest claims.
