Gabby Douglas has become the latest Olympian to accuse former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar of sexual assault. Larry Nassar is currently awaiting sentencing for child pornography charges. He has been sued and accused by more than 140 women of sexual abuse.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Douglas not only said Nassar abused her, but she also apologized again to her former teammate Aly Raisman. (A few days ago, Douglas tweeted an insensitive victim-shaming comment aimed at Raisman and her own experience with Nassar.)
“First, I want to reiterate my apology for responding the way I did to a comment that one of my teammates posted,” Douglas said in her statement, which she posted to Instagram. “I know some of you may take what I am about to say as insincere, but I still wanted to provide context.”
The three-time gold medalist added that the day before she made her comments to Raisman she was attending an event with hundreds of young adults and children, which had her thinking about what a good role model looks like. “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,” she said. “I admit there are times that I fall short.”
She noted that she does not view her comments made toward Raisman as victim shaming because “I know that no matter what you wear, it NEVER gives anyone the right to harass or abuse you.” She then added that doing so “would be like saying that because the leotards we wore, it was our fault that we were abused by Larry Nassar.” According to Douglas, she did not come forward with her own experiences with Nassar because she had been conditioned to stay silent and the thought of doing so felt too painful.
“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,” she added.
Douglas ended her note by asking for forgiveness for not being more responsible with her words. “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,” she said, ending the note, “All my love, Gabby.”
See her full post, below: