Shawn Johnson Opened up About Her Struggles as a Professional Gymnast

Publish date: 2024-05-24

Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson opened up about her feelings on the United States Gymnastics community and Dr. Larry Nassar. But was once she a victim of his?

Source: Instagram

A new Netflix documentary dropped just lately, detailing the abuse scandal in USA Gymnastics. The film entitled Athlete A follows a group of investigative journalists from The Indianapolis Star who broke the tale of USA Gymnastics' team physician, Larry Nassar, sexually assaulting young female gymnasts. Absent from the film are one of the extra prominent names in USA Gymnastics, together with popular YouTube star and former USA Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson

Does her absence from the movie mean that she didn't turn into a sufferer of Dr. Larry Nassar or has she just been a bit quieter about her studies? In 2018, Shawn actually opened up about her feelings relating to america Gymnastics neighborhood and Dr. Larry Nassar. 

Source: Instagram

Shawn Johnson expressed her beef up for Larry Nassar's sufferers.

In a video Shawn uploaded to her YouTube channel, she went in on USA Gymnastics for how the group handled athletes’ stories of sexual abuse through Doctor Larry Nassar, who's these days being sentenced for 10 counts of first-degree felony sexual behavior. She did not point out that she herself was once a kind of athletes abused by means of Nassar. 

Shawn opened her video with some supportive phrases to her fellow gymnasts who gave statements in court docket. “Know I’m praying for you. I love you. You have skilled one of the crucial worst evil on this planet, and to understand you guys have a voice and also you’re standing up for so many other folks: simply know you're my heroes.”

Shawn mentioned that she would not put her daughter in gymnastics.

She went on to explain that the entire group needs a main overhaul and the way USA Gymnastics runs presently would not be enough enough to position her daughter in.

She defined, “I think gymnastics is the best recreation in the entire international, but if I had a daughter at this time, I wouldn’t put her in it, and it makes me in reality sad. Because I will be able to’t even agree with USA Gymnastics. I’ve talked to different athletes and gymnasts who are a part of USA Gymnastics who have daughters, and it’s identical to... the group I've depended on my complete existence has failed miserably, and I don’t know how to fix it, with the exception of for beginning over.”

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10 years ago today... we were roomies, teammates, and best friends... Wow, nothing has changed ;) love you! #olympics #gymnastics #bestfriends

A publish shared by means of Shawn Johnson East (@shawnjohnson) on Aug 15, 2018 at 11:26am PDT

She endured, “Start over completely. Until we give protection to those little women as human beings, instead of shielding them as gymnasts simply to ensure they win gold medals, we aren’t going to make any progress that’s meaningful.”

Recently, Shawn Johnson opened up about her frame issues and drug use.

The 28-year-old defined in a new YouTube video titled Body Image Issues: 110 Lbs. to Pregnant that, at the conclusion of the 2008 Olympics, she used to be feeling lost and without objective. All the rigorous coaching and strict weight loss plan she has been on all those years had distorted her truth for what her frame will have to seem like.

"When I went on Dancing with the Stars and I had my period for the first time, and I had to deal with going through puberty on national television, I hit a very low spot," Shawn stated in the video. "I'd gained about 15 lbs. after the Olympics and I thought that that was the worst thing in the entire world — which it wasn't, it was healthy and normal."

She additionally shared that she became to medicine and drugs to assist curb her weight. "I went through this dark kind of spiral of a few years on terrible medications and drugs that tried to 'spike my metabolism' and did nothing, I took diuretics, I did every fad diet. I remember I went through a three-week phase where I ate nothing but raw vegetables,” she confessed. 

Source: Instagram

Now, Shawn is happily married and enjoys spending time with her daughter, Drew. "There used to be something that switched once I were given pregnant, where it was once no longer about me or my body or like the self-love or just like the energy or what I gave the impression of or what I weighed," she said in the video. "I could have cared less. It was once about protecting my child. And I was so all for that."

If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, call the National Eating Disorders Association Helpline at 1-800-931-2237.

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