#MeToo: Gabby Douglas Reveals That She Was Also Molested By The Olympic Team Doctor
Gabby Douglas Discloses Her Own Abuse By Team Doctor
Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas caught A LOT of heat via social media for some seemingly victim-shaming things she said about how a woman “should” dress so as not to “entice the wrong crowd.”
This came in response to teammate Aly Raisman’s commentary that women have the right to wear whatever makes them happy without men assuming the right to disrespect, abuse, or assault them. Naturally, folks dragged her ’till dawn and she eventually issued an apology, saying that her statement wasn’t properly worded in the moment.
Now, Gabby has dropped the bombshell that she wouldn’t dare victim shame anyone, much less her teammate Aly, since she herself was subjected to the same abuse that Aly faced from the same doctor.
Gabby didn’t get into specifics, but she did use the word “We” and note that she didn’t previously share her own experiences due to a conditioning to be private.
First, I want to reiterate my apology for responding the way that I did to a comment that one of my teammates posted. I know some of you may take what I am about to say as insincere, but I still wanted to provide context.
The day before I commented, I was at an event where hundreds of children and young adults came to spend an evening with me. It’s very humbling when many people look up to you as an example. I take my job as a role model very seriously and i always want to do my best to represent all the best qualities that a role model should embody. I admit there are times that I fall short.
I didn’t view my 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 the leotards we wore, it was our fault that we were abused by Larry Nassar. 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.
I understand that many of you didn’t know what I was dealing with, but it is important to me that you at least know this. I do not advocate victim shaming/blaming in any way, shape or form! I will also never support attacking or bullying anyone on social media or anywhere else.
Please forgive me for not being more responsible with how I handled the situation. To every other individual that commented to or about me hatefully, I apologize that I let you down too. I will never stop promoting unity, positivity, strength, being courageous and doing good instead of evil. I have learned from this and I’m determined to be even better.
All my love,
Gabby
SMH. We’re sorry to hear that Gabby was yet another victim of assault/abuse at the hands of this sick doctor. Do you think this statement changes the judgemental color of the statement she made?
WENN/Getty
Source: #MeToo: Gabby Douglas Reveals That She Was Also Molested By The Olympic Team Doctor
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