Simone Biles Talks Getting Bullied Online, Justice For Breonna Taylor & Breakup W/ Stacey Ervin, Jr.: It Was For The Best

Simone Biles

Simone Biles Talks Getting Bullied Online, Justice For Breonna Taylor & Breakup W/ Stacey Ervin, Jr.: It Was For The Best

Olympic gymnast Simone Biles is the cover girl for the latest issue of Vogue and in her interview, she opened up about the criticism she’s received online since first winning her gold medal in 2016. She admitted,

“They focused on my hair. They focused on how big my legs were. But God made me this way, and I feel like if I didn’t have these legs or these calves, I wouldn’t be able to tumble as high as I can and have all of these moves named after me.”

She also pointed out that there were only a handful of black gymnasts for her to look up to, and Gabby Douglas, who took home the gold four years before served as a major inspiration.

“Growing up, I didn’t see very many Black gymnasts, so whenever I did, I felt really inspired to go out there and want to be as good as them. I remember watching Gabby Douglas win the 2012 Olympics, and I was like, If she can do it, I can do it.”

Gabby Douglas

She also spoke up about Larry Nassar, the former doctor for the U.S. women’s national gymnastics team. He was sentenced to 175 years in prison after more than 300 women came forward and accused him of sexual assault. Simone Biles was also one of his victims. She said of the 2016 investigation,

“It didn’t feel like real life. And there were little things that I did that I didn’t know why, but I felt like I was just trying to protect myself…Just, like, little quirks. Like I remember on tour, I would have really bad anxiety about nothing. Or like, walking down a hall, I feared that somebody was following me. I just had a lot of issues that were unexplained until I finally figured out why. The dots connected.”

She added,

“Whenever my parents would ask me about it, or my brothers, I would just shut it down. Like, No! It didn’t happen! I would get really angry.”

“I was very depressed. At one point I slept so much because, for me, it was the closest thing to death without harming myself. It was an escape from all of my thoughts, from the world, from what I was dealing with. It was a really dark time.”

Simone Biles

Things changed after a friend of hers, Maggie Nichols, who was also a former member of the national team came forward and shared her experience with Larry Nassar. Biles said,

“I was reading Maggie’s coverage and it just hit me. I was like, I’ve had the same treatments. I remember googling, like, sexually abused. Because I know some girls had it worse than me. I know that for a fact. So I felt like I wasn’t abused because it wasn’t to the same extent as the other girls. Some of my friends had it really, really bad. They were his favorite. Since mine wasn’t to that capacity, I felt like it didn’t happen.”

“I felt like I knew, I just didn’t want to admit it to myself, that it had happened. Because I felt like, not that you’re supposed to be perfect, but I just felt like that’s what America wanted me to be—was perfect. Because every time an American wins the Olympics, you’re like America’s sweetheart. So it’s like, How could this happen to America’s sweetheart? That’s how I felt—like I was letting other people down by this.”

Biles also spoke on her love life and confirmed that she and her now ex-boyfriend Stacey Ervin, Jr. have broken up after more than three years. She said,

“It’s hard being young and having that long of a relationship and then ending it. But it was for the best.”

Simone Biles, Stacey Ervin, Jr.

Biles is also using her time to fight for justice for victims of recent killings like Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. She said,

“We need change. We need justice for the Black community. With the peaceful protests it’s the start of change, but it’s sad that it took all of this for people to listen. Racism and injustice have existed for years with the Black community. How many times has this happened before we had cell phones?”

She continued,

“With everyone speaking up and the traction that Ahmaud and George are getting. Breonna will be remembered. She’s going to find justice. They’re already reopening her case. I’m happy for that. But I just don’t understand. She was sleeping. How do you feel threatened when you’re a police officer and they’re sleeping? Come on now. We tried peaceful protesting. Then Colin Kaepernick—he lost his job. He lost his career. They took his whole entire career away from that poor man. And look at us now. It’s working. You just have to be the first and people will follow.”

What are your thoughts on what Simone Biles had to say? Let us know in the comments.