Biles talks about abuse
Three years after USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar was convicted for sexually abusing gymnasts and other women, Simone Biles is opening up about her trauma.
Three years after disgraced USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar was convicted for sexually abusing dozens of gymnasts and other women, Simone Biles is opening up about how she struggled with depression after suffering sexual trauma.
“I was super depressed, and I didn’t want to leave my room and I didn’t want to go anywhere,” the Olympic gymnast revealed on the latest installment of her Facebook Watch docuseries “Simone vs. Herself.”
Admitting that she struggled with suicidal thoughts, Biles felt that “sleeping was basically better than, like, offing myself. It was my way to escape reality,” she continued through tears.
Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for sexually assaulting girls and women under the pretense that he was treating them — including Biles, who is considered by many to be the greatest gymnast of all time.
The 24-year-old Columbus, Ohio, native said she was in denial, which is why when hundreds of victims initially came forward to accuse Nassar, she wasn’t among them.
It was while she was driving on a highway in Texas when she finally was able to admit to her mother that she, too, was one of Nassar’s victims.
“I just remember breaking down and calling my mom,” Biles shared. “She told me to pull over. She was like, ‘Can you drive?’ because I was crying so hard.”
Her mother, Nellie Biles, recalled that her daughter was “just hysterical” during the painful revelation: “She didn’t say anything, she just cried, and we just cried together because I knew ... She didn’t have to say anything.”
She said that before she opened up about the sexual assault that Simone would be “very angry” when she would ask her anything. “So I just gave her space until she was ready to talk about it,” Nellie said.
“With gymnasts, if you get injured ... your ‘heal time’ is four to six weeks,” Simone reflected. “But then with something so traumatic that happens like this, there’s no four to six weeks! ... There’s like actually no time limit or healing time for it. So you just take it day by day.”
“It’s OK to say ‘I need help,’ and there’s nothing wrong with that,” she continued. “And I feel athletes are coming out of the woodworks and telling people, ‘It’s OK.’”
While Biles was initially hesitant to come forward, she eventually did, in January 2018, via a lengthy statement she posted on social media.
“I knew that it would help others, and that’s why I did it — to let them know they are not alone,” Biles said in the video.