Less than a week after being blasted for allegedly “victim shaming” Olympic gymnastics teammate Aly Raisman, who claims she was sexually assaulted by the team doctor, Gabby Douglas now says the same man assaulted her, as well.
Douglas, who made history at the 2012 London Olympic games when she became the first African American to win the gold medal in the individual all-around category, said she was sexually abused by former team doctor Larry Nassar, TMZ states. This shocking revelation came just weeks after two teammates, Raisman most notably, came forward to expose Nassar.
Douglas delivered her statement to the media on Tuesday, which actually began as an apology to Raisman. Douglas admitted that she did not come across last week as more supportive of her and actually seemed like she was victim shaming Raisman in saying women need to be more mindful of what they wear to avoid attracting sexual abusers.
Douglas added that she didn’t originally view her comments as victim shaming because, “I know that no matter what you wear, it NEVER gives anyone the right to harass or abuse you. It would be like saying that because of the leotards we wore, it was our fault that we were abused by Larry Nassar.”
Gabby added, “I didn’t publicly share my experiences as well as many other things because for years we were conditioned to stay silent and honestly some things were extremely painful. I wholeheartedly support my teammates for coming forward with what happened to them.”
As rolling out previously reported, Simone Biles, considered the greatest gymnast of all time, publicly lambasted Douglas for basically telling Raisman that women needed to tame their dress and appearance.
Douglas has apologized profusely for the way her comment came off at the time, but did not go public with her accusation of sexual abuse until now.
Meanwhile, Nassar, a suburban Detroit native and a former Michigan State University gymnastics doctor, is reportedly expected to plead guilty to first-degree criminal sexual conduct charges in two counties involving allegations that he assaulted girls during treatment, according to the Detroit News. Prosecutors agree not to press more than the 22 charges already on books against the 54-year-old. He is expected to serve at least 25 years versus the life in prison sentence he would have likely gotten if he had allowed the case to go to trial.
