McKayala Maroney says she was SUICIDAL after being abused

Two-time Olympic medalist McKayla Maroney says that the years-long sexual abuse she endured at the hands of a former USA Gymnastics team doctor nearly drove her to suicide, it was revealed on Wednesday.

Maroney and her mother wrote letters to the federal judge presiding over the trial of Larry Nassar, who spent three decades working with athletes at USA Gymnastics, ESPN reported on Wednesday.

Last month, Nassar confessed to sexually penetrating multiple young girls who were as young as 10 during a court hearing in Michigan.

Maroney and her mother wrote letters to the federal judge presiding over the trial of Larry Nassar, who spent three decades working with athletes at USA Gymnastics. Nassar is seen above tending to Maroney during competition in this undated file photo

Last month, Nassar confessed to sexually penetrating multiple young girls who were as young as 10 during a court hearing in Michigan

As part of his plea deal, Nassar will now face at least 25 years in prison after initially being charged with 22 counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Nassar pleaded guilty to seven counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in Ingham County Circuit Court, acknowledging that he sexually penetrated the young women and that they were not old enough to give consent.  

Initially, McKayla had planned to appear in court on Thursday to deliver a victim-impact statement during the sentencing phase of Nassar’s trial.

McKayla and her mother want the judge to impose the harshest sentence prescribed by the law.

Initially, McKayla had planned to appear in court on Thursday to deliver a victim-impact statement during the sentencing phase of Nassar’s trial

McKayla and her mother want the judge to impose the harshest sentence prescribed by the law

McKayla Maroney, 21, said Nassar molested her from the age of 13 until she left gymnastics last year. Nassar is pictured above in the back row with his face circled. McKayla is seen in the first row with her face circled

McKayla’s mother wrote in a letter to the judge that her daughter was left ‘shattered’ by the abuse she endured at Nassar’s hands

‘She has transformed from a bubbly, positive, loving, world class athlete into a young adult who was deeply depressed, at times suicidal,’ Erin Maroney wrote. McKayla is seen above (center) after winning the gold medal at the World Championships in Tokyo in 2011

‘At times, I was unsure whether I would open her bedroom door and find her dead,’ Erin Maroney wrote of her daughter

The judge in the case ruled last week that there would be no victim-impact statements read out loud in court. Instead, she will read them privately.

‘This experience has shattered McKayla,’ Erin Maroney wrote in the letter to the judge.

‘She has transformed from a bubbly, positive, loving, world class athlete into a young adult who was deeply depressed, at times suicidal. 

‘At times, I was unsure whether I would open her bedroom door and find her dead.’

McKayla Maroney, 21, said Nassar molested her from the age of 13 until she left gymnastics last year.

She said the abuse happened at many high-profile competitions, including the 2012 London Olympic Games where she won gold and silver medals.

She opened up about the experiences in a tweet inspired by the ‘Me Too’ movement, which encouraged women to identify themselves as victims of sexual harassment or assault following the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

‘It started when I was 13 years old, at one of my first national team training camps, in Texas, and it didn’t end until I left the sport,’ McKayla Maroney wrote in her letter to the court. 

McKayla revealed the abuse in a Twitter post from October 18. The post was her response to the #MeToo campaign in which women came forward to detail the sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of men in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein revelations

McKayla Maroney says the abuse took place at the famed Karolyi Ranch, which served as the national training center for USA Gymnastics.

It was run by former Team USA coaches Bela and Marta Karolyi. 

‘Because the national team training camps did not allow parents to be present, my mom and dad were unable to observe what Nassar was doing.’

Erin Maroney wrote that she and her husband ‘were not allowed to stay with McKayla’ when the gymnastics team traveled abroad and that ‘sometimes we were not even in the same hotel.’

‘We were never allowed to the US Olympic Training Center at the Karolyi Ranch nor any other training facility,’ Erin Maroney wrote. 

‘My husband once questioned the propriety of the isolation of the girls during international travel. 

‘He was assured by [former USA Gymnastics president] Steve Penny that the girls were safe at all times.

‘”More safe than the President of the USA,” he said to him. We now know that this was a lie.’ 

In 2011, ‘[Nassar] drugged her, made her lay nude on a treatment table, straddled her and digitally penetrated her while rubbing his erect penis against her,’ Erin Maroney wrote

‘She was only 15 years old. She said to me, “Mom I thought I was going to die”,’ Erin Maroney wrote

McKayla Maroney also describes the incident in her letter to the judge. ‘[Nassar] had given me a sleeping pill for the flight, and the next thing I know, I was all alone with him in his hotel room getting treatment,’ the Olympic champion writes

Penny resigned in March due to mounting criticism over USA Gymnastics’ handling of the allegations against Nassar. 

Erin Maroney describes in graphic detail how Nassar drugged her daughter and penetrated her sexually.

‘I … learned a few weeks ago from my daughter that at the world championships in Tokyo, [Nassar] drugged her, made her lay nude on a treatment table, straddled her and digitally penetrated her while rubbing his erect penis against her,’ Erin Maroney wrote. 

‘She was only 15 years old. She said to me, “Mom I thought I was going to die”.

‘I cannot tell you the anguish her Dad and I feel and the responsibility we feel for not being aware of this or being able to stop it.’ 

McKayla Maroney also describes the incident in her letter to the judge.

‘[Nassar] had given me a sleeping pill for the flight, and the next thing I know, I was all alone with him in his hotel room getting treatment,’ the Olympic champion writes.

McKayla and several other gymnasts have described similar instances in which Nassar would take them into rooms under the guise of treatment – even though USA Gymnastics rules prohibit adults from ever being alone in a room with minors. 

The instances of abuse took place at the Karolyi Ranch, in hotels during international competitions, and at athletes dorms during the Olympics.

‘It happened in London before my team and I won the gold medal, and it happened before I won my silver medal [at the 2012 London Olympics],’ McKayla Maroney wrote.

McKayla and her mother both criticized Nassar and the institutions that they say enabled him – USA Gymnastics, the US Olympic Committee, and Michigan State, which employed Nassar full time as a trainer.

‘Our daughter was totally failed by USA Gymnastics, by Michigan State University and by the US Olympic Committee,’ Erin Maroney wrote. 

‘No one from the USOC has ever reached out to me or my husband or my daughter to inquire about her well being. Not once. No one has apologized.

‘After McKayla spoke with an investigator with USA Gymnastics in July 2015, USA Gymnastics and the USOC kept the knowledge of [Nassar’s] status as a child molester secret from Michigan State University after 2015 and even said nothing when he ran for school board in his local school district!”