Billie Jean King Gets Walk Of Fame Star, Continues Fight For Equality

Forbes

08-04-2025

Billie Jean King gets a star on the Walk of Fame. (Photo by)
Today, trailblazing athlete and equality advocate Billie Jean King became the first female athlete to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame specifically for her contributions to sports—marking yet another milestone in a career defined by firsts. While her tennis career may have ended, King has remained at the forefront of the fight for equity, championing women in sports and corporate leadership.
King received the star in the new 'sports entertainment' category, and she quickly reminded everyone in attendance that sports is indeed a form of entertainment. The honor adds to a long list of accolades in her extraordinary career. She was the first female athlete awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the first individual woman athlete to receive the Congressional Gold Medal and was named one of the most influential people of the 20th century by Life Magazine. She founded the Women's Sports Foundation, the Women's Tennis Association, and the Billie Jean King Foundation—each instrumental in advancing equity in sports. And, of course, she was a tennis superstar. King ended six seasons as the world's number-one player and captured 39 Grand Slam titles, including a record 20 at Wimbledon.
However, King is likely most known for her push for equal pay, which marked a turning point for tennis and all of women's athletics. Her leadership was instrumental in securing equal prize money at the U.S. Open in 1973, making it the first major tournament to do so. Also in 1973, King defeated former male professional tennis star Bobby Riggs in the highly publicized 'Battle of the Sexes,' a match watched by an estimated 90 million viewers. The event changed the conversation about women's place in professional athletics.
Even now, King knows the fight isn't over. One of the biggest hurdles female athletes still face is building consistent viewership—and long-term sustainability for women's leagues. When I asked her about this, she pointed out that men's sports also struggled in their early years. 'Look how long it's taken the men. Everyone forgets the history of men's sports, how long it's taken, how many failures they had along the way,' she said, noting, 'The NBA almost went under in 1979.'
For professional female athletes who want to close the gender pay gap, she emphasizes the need to understand the business side of sports. 'Learn the business you're in,' she advises. 'I ask players, do you even know who ran the tournament you were in this week?'—typically, they don't. 'You need to ask them how they did,' she continues, explaining that some events may have actually lost money. She breaks down how tournaments secure sponsors, strike media deals and rely on capable organizers. As part of her work to achieve equal pay in tennis, King and her former husband got involved in the business, ran their own tournaments and brought in their own sponsors.
King and her wife, former professional tennis player Ilana Kloss, recently applied this business acumen to help the new women's professional hockey league (PWHL) get off the ground. 'We helped get it started. We went and found the money. It's always about money,' she says.
These days, King also channels her energy into advocating for women in the boardroom. In partnership with e.l.f. Beauty, she's spotlighting the persistent lack of female representation on corporate boards. Despite decades of slow progress, women still hold just 30% of board seats in U.S. publicly traded companies. King believes the numbers need to change—not just for fairness, but because companies make better decisions with diverse input. She points to research showing that when three or more women serve on a board, their influence on strategic decisions significantly increases.
King is also a firm believer in the power of sports to shape confident, capable leaders—especially in business. She points to research showing that 94% of women in the C-suite played sports, with more than half competing at the university level. She told me that sports make you more resilient and teach you how to be a leader.
In her autobiography All In, she reflects, 'I've always said that it helps women in business to know sports because men have created both cultures and having that knowledge helps you navigate your path and pick up vital cues and subtleties. Sports teach you how to assert yourself and create sustained bonds even in competitive environments; you learn how to weather setbacks and conflict, handle pressure, and push through to get the outcome you want, whether it's with teammates or by yourself. Those are vital skills in business.'
King's experiences have also provided insights she's eager to share with other women. Her most significant message for those just starting out? 'Don't let others define you. You define yourself.' She explains that girls and young women are told not to ask for what they want or need. Instead, King advises, 'You decide what you want and seek out what's important to you.'
Women have come a long way from when King first started playing tennis. In 1967, 'I swept the singles, doubles, and mixed-doubles titles at Wimbledon, the pinnacle. My compensation at Wimbledon for all that was a £45 gift voucher,' King wrote in her autobiography. After winning the women's singles title in 1972, she received $10,000—while the men's champion, Ilie Nastase, earned $25,000. King's relentless advocacy and refusal to accept the status quo made the U.S. Open the first major tournament to offer equal prize money in 1973.
When I asked King what message it sends to have a female athlete receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, her answer was clear and characteristically forward-looking. 'It's a beginning. That's what it is,' she said. 'And the process has started now, and I hope we'll really start concentrating on which women athletes deserve a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.' Once again, she's blazing the trail for the next generation to follow. Her star is located at 6284 Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles.