In a new magazine interview, the retired Olympic gymnast says reliving trauma from the former Team USA gymnastics doctor makes her want 'to become someone else.'
- Sep 1, 2021
AceShowbiz - McKayla Maroney has opened up about the challenges she's faced after being sexually abused by former Team USA gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. In a new magazine interview, the retired Olympic gymnast blamed the trauma for her eating disorder.
In her profile story for Elle's October issue, the 25-year-old former athlete said, "I already had that obsessive control thing, so it just switched from gymnastics to food." She continued explaining, "I forgot I had ever even been successful at gymnastics, because I went from being great to feeling like, 'Oh my God, I'm ugly, I'm gaining weight, I'm suffering with food and I just went through all this abuse.' "
Elsewhere in the interview, McKayla revealed that looking back at Larry's investigation and subsequent trial made her relive her trauma "over and over and over." She added, "To have people say I can't move forward with my life, because I have to do all this stuff first, was really hard for me. I just wanted to become someone else."
Recalling her time at the Karolyi Ranch, which served as the USA women's gymnastics main training center for years before Larry's trial, McKayla said the facility had a toxic environment that created a "perfect breeding ground for Larry Nassar, who was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison in January 2018 after being accused of sexual misconduct by more than 150 women and girls, to sneak in." She continued, "Our coaches were so focused on us being skinny and us being the best to get the gold medal for their own ego."
"Clearly I've been through a lot," McKayla pointed out. She then said, "I want to be looked at as someone who just keeps going, because that's what we have to do in this life. For so long, I was surviving. Now I feel I'm actually living."
