Their Private Hell: 25 Brave Olympic Heroes’ Statements on Their Harrowing Experiences With Larry Nassar

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Their Private Hell: 25 Brave Olympic Heroes’ Statements on Their Harrowing Experiences With Larry Nassar

Using their voices! Many of the women who accused Larry Nassar of sexual misconduct delivered powerful testimonies at his criminal sentencing hearing over the past two weeks. More than 150 victims, including gold medalists McKayla Maroney, Jordyn Wieber and Aly Raisman, have come forward with accusations against the former USA Gymnastics doctor. After a full week of dozens of his victims delivering their brave statements and detailing the abuse they endured while in court in Lansing, Michigan, Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison on Wednesday, January 24. Scroll through below to read some of the most impactful statements the fearless young women made about experiencing Nassar’s abuse.

Credit: CNN; REUTERS/Brendan McDermid (2); GEOFF ROBINS/AFP/Getty Images

Their Private Hell: 25 Brave Olympic Heroes’ Statements on Their Harrowing Experiences With Larry Nassar

Using their voices! Many of the women who accused Larry Nassar of sexual misconduct delivered powerful testimonies at his criminal sentencing hearing over the past two weeks. More than 150 victims, including gold medalists McKayla Maroney, Jordyn Wieber and Aly Raisman, have come forward with accusations against the former USA Gymnastics doctor. After a full week of dozens of his victims delivering their brave statements and detailing the abuse they endured while in court in Lansing, Michigan, Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison on Wednesday, January 24. Scroll through below to read some of the most impactful statements the fearless young women made about experiencing Nassar’s abuse.

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Aly Raisman

Aly Raisman, now 23, addressed Nassar directly at his sentencing in the Lansing, Michigan, court on January 19. “Larry, you do realize now that we, this group of women you so heartlessly abused over such a long period of time, are now a force and you are nothing,” she said with conviction. “The tables have turned, Larry. We are here, we have our voices and we are not going anywhere.”

The athlete also praised the other women who had spoken at the sentencing calling them an “army of survivors.” Raisman said: “Imagine feeling like you have no power or voice. Well, you know what, Larry? I have both power and voice and I’m only beginning to just use them. All these brave women have power and we will use our voices to make sure you get what you deserve.”

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Jordyn Wieber

Jordyn Wieber came forward with her own statement about Nassar’s abuse when she appeared at the sentencing on Friday, January 19. “I thought that training for the Olympics would be the hardest thing I would ever have to do. But the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do is process that I am a victim of Larry Nassar,” Wieber, 22, said.

She added: “It’s caused me to feel shame and confusion … I have spent months trying to think back on my experience and wonder how I didn’t know what was happening to me and how I became so brainwashed by Larry Nassar and everyone at USA Gymnastics. Both whom I thought were supposed to be on my side.”

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Alexis Alvarado

Alexis Alvarado took the podium on January 19 and addressed the former Michigan State University doctor’s complaints from the week prior to Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina that listening to his victims’ stories was detrimental to his health.

"This is not Judge Aquilina's so-called 'circus' that you called it,” Alvarado told him. “This is your hell. And I hope you burn in it."

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Arianna Guerrero

Arianna Guerrero is a high school student in Michigan and she said the abuse made her lose the love she had for gymnastics. “You, Larry, turned the sport I love into the sport I hate. I hope someone does to you what you did to us for the rest of your life,” Guerrero, 16, said. 

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Christine Harrison

Soccer player Christine Harrison opened up about her experience and addressed Nassar with fervor. "I know the truth. Regardless if he remembers what he did to me or not, I remember. That's all that matters. You knew what you were doing was wrong. It wasn't until you got caught that you started to beg for forgiveness."

She added: "My family always used the saying, 'The Lord helps those who help themselves.' But with you, you had the opportunity for years to seek help. You knew what you were doing was wrong, but it wasn't until you got caught that you started to ask for forgiveness."

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Clasina Syrovy

Gymnast Clasina Syrovy addressed Nassar during her statement. "Larry, how many of us are there? Do you even know?" she said. "You preyed on me, on us. You saw a way to take advantage of your position - the almighty and trusted gymnastics doctor. Shame on you, Larry. Shame on you."

She added: "After today, I will not cry anymore. I am done. ... You are a disaster."

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Emma Ann Miller

Emma Ann Miller said she was still getting billed for medical appointments from August 2016 with the former sports doctor right before he was fired from Michigan State University. "I, too, was sexually assaulted by Larry Nassar, multiple times, at multiple appointments," she said. "My last treatment was in August 2016. A week later he was let go by MSU. I'm possibly the last child he will ever assault.

She also addressed Michigan State: "I, like all those that have spoken, didn't choose this circumstance to have the right to be standing in front of this podium today. Nassar made that choice for us — your 20-year child-molesting employee."

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Jamie Dantzscher

Olympian Jamie Dantzscher delivered a powerful statement about her former sports doctor on the fourth day of his sentencing on January 19. “How dare you ask any of us for forgiveness? And how dare you act like you care for a second about our healing? And how f--king dare you say sorry about everything you’ve done about everything you’ve done and all the lives you’ve destroyed?” she bravely said. “We all see right through your bulls--t now. You’re a pathetic monster that is only sorry you got caught.”

She added: “Your days of manipulation are over. We have a voice. We have power.”

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Maddie and Kara Johnson

Sisters Maddie and Kara Johnson spoke about the abuse they endured. "He was the doctor. I was the child. I had no idea what to think," Maddie said, alongside her sister. "For the longest time, you deprived me of my happiness. Because of you, every time I hear someone call me, 'Kiddo,' I think of the face you made when you were abusing me."

Kara added: ”I will never be able to get back what you have so effortlessly taken,” she said. “After this is all over, I can finally be a senior in high school again."

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Mattie Larson

Mattie Larson said she once purposely hurt herself to get away from going to the training center where Nassar worked. “I was taking a bath when I decided to push the bath mat aside, splash water on the tiles, get on the floor and bang the back of my head against the tub hard enough to get a bump so it seemed like I slipped,” Larson said. “My parents immediately took me to the hospital because they thought I had a concussion. I was willing to physically hurt myself to get out of the abuse that I received at the ranch.”

She told him: “I can’t even put into words how much I f--king hate you.” 

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McKayla Maroney

In a statement read by a prosecutor on January 18, McKayla Maroney addressed Nassar and the institutions she believes are to blame for her abuse. "Dr. Nassar was not a doctor," she wrote in her statement. "He left scars on my psyche that may never go away."

Maroney, 22, added: “If Michigan State University, USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic Committee had paid attention to any of the red flags in Larry Nassar's behavior, I never would have met him, I never would have been treated by him, I never would have been abused by him. Dr. Nassar was never a doctor. He was in fact, and forever shall ever be, a child molester, a monster of a human being. End of story."

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Melody Posthuma-VanderVeen

During the fourth day of the sentencing, Melody Posthuma-Vanderveen said she was still dealing with the effects of the abuse and asked others to make young women feel safe.

"I'm still suffering every day and will continue to do so,” she said. “And I ask each one of you — and everyone this reaches — that you will help cultivate environments where women don't have to live in fear. I wholeheartedly believe that this begins with giving you a life sentence today."

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Nicole Reeb

Nicole Reeb said that an article in 2016 helped her realize she had been sexually abused and revealed the effects the abuse had on her mental health. "I sat frozen on my couch thinking ‘Oh my God, I was right, I was right, I was right,’” Reeb said. “Over the next few weeks, I numbly began the process of telling my family and a couple of close friends that I too had been sexually abused by Larry Nassar.”

She added: ”I have spent my entire adult life crawling my way through the aftermath of being sexually abused."

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Rachael Denhollander

Rachael Denhollander was among the first victims to come forward in 2016 about the abuse. During her statement, she told Nassar: "You have become a man ruled by selfish and perverted desires, a man defined by his daily choices over and over again to feed that selfishness and perversion. You chose to pursue your wickedness no matter what it cost others."

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Olivia Cowan

The former gymnast spoke during the sentencing on January 16. She said: "The anxiety this has caused me is what leaves me feeling like there's nothing more to give. There's not a day that passes that I don't think about the monster."

She added: “I am really struggling with the people who could have prevented this and saved so many women. I want women and girls to know they are not alone.”

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Whitney Mergens

Whitney Mergens said she quit gymnastics shortly after her encounter with Nassar during an appointment when was a child. “How is one capable of processing that they had been molested when they were 11 years old and not have any knowledge of it?” she said during her statement. 

Mergers then talked about hiding her truth from her parents for weeks after hearing the news about Nassar, saying: “Those words were the hardest words to come out of my mouth.” 

She added: “It is so difficult for me to not live in fear.”

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Maggie Nichols

Maggie Nichols’ mother, Gina Nichols, delivered the statement on behalf of her daughter. "I remember he took me into the training room, closed the door and closed the blinds. At the time I thought this was kind of weird but figured it must be OK. I trusted what he was doing at first, but then he started touching me in places I really didn't think he should,” she wrote in the statement.

Nichols added that she trusted other adults around her and thought she was safe with the former doctor. ”He didn't have gloves on and he didn't tell me what he was doing. There was no one else in the room and I accepted what he was doing because I was told by adults that he was the best doctor and he could help relieve my pain,” she said.

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Lindsey Lemke

Lindsey Lemke spoke during the third day of the statements. ”You sit up here shake your head back and forth,” she told Nassar. “You abused us and you don't even remember. That's sickening."

She also addressed Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon. "Guess what? You're a coward, too,” she told Simon.

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Kyle Stephens

Kyle Stephens was the first victim to speak about Nassar’s abuse in court on January 16. “Sexual abuse is so much more than a disturbing physical act. It changes the trajectory of a victim’s life and that is something that no one has the right to do,” she said.

Stephens then strongly addressed Nassar, saying: ”I testified to let the world know that you are a repulsive liar and those 'treatments' were pathetically veiled sexual abuse. Perhaps you have figured it out by now, but little girls don't stay little forever. They grow into strong women that return to destroy your world."

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Jessica Thomashow

Jessica Thomashaw mourned the loss of her innocence during her statement. The 17-year-old said: "He touched the most innocent places on my body. I couldn't be just a normal girl anymore, and I forever lost a big piece of my childhood due to his abuse."

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Jennifer Rood Bedford

The Michigan State volleyball player gave her testimony and said she forgave Nassar for his abuse.

“Dr. Nassar, I want you to know that I pray for you. Please know my forgiveness towards you is sincere,” Rood-Bedford said. “There is hope that transcends all understanding…You can choose to be a better man, and to be a different person…Seek Him and find that.”

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Jeanette Antolin

Former gymnast Jeanette Antolin spoke at the sentencing hearing on January 17. Antolin said: "He robbed a good portion of my gymnastics experience, not just from me, but from countless women.”

She added: “Only a monster would harm innocent children the way Larry did. I will never understand the evil that motivates an adult to abuse an innocent child.” 

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Jade Capua

Jade Capua spoke about her experience with Nassar and addressed him directly during her statement. "All I can think of is how this man, someone who held oh so many high credentials, was the monster who left me with more pain and scars than I came to his office with," she said. "The pain of never trusting someone physically again and the scars of being touched and exposed in places that were completely inappropriate. That day in the office is a day that will never be forgotten. I am no longer broken by you."

“Lastly, a few words to Mr. Larry Nassar,” Capua added. "You broke and shattered a lot of girls. You manipulated us to trust you because you're a doctor, and doctors do no wrong, only heal."

She concluded: “You are not a healer. I am no longer broken by you. I am Jade Capua, and I am a survivor.”

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Bethany Bauman

Bethany Bauman was the ninth victim who shared the details of the abuse she endured during her treatments with Nassar and revealed the memories still haunt her. "The fact that I was sexually abused by you is something I'm still trying to wrap my head around," she said. “The flashbacks of the hours spent alone in that exam room with him have at times kept me up at night. My memories are vivid and it's hard to get the images out of my head.”

“I remember how much it hurt but didn't want to speak up. Because I was afraid of what you would think of me, I had to be strong,” Bauman continued. “I am 100 percent confident that if he had not been caught he would continue to do this for the rest of his life.”

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Alexis Moore

Alexis Moore courageously opened up about being let down by the former sports doctor during her statement. “For years Mr. Nassar convinced me that he was the only person who could help me recover from multiple serious injuries,” she said. “To me, he was like a knight in shining armor. But alas, that shine blinded me from the abuse. He betrayed my trust, took advantage of my trust and sexually abused me hundreds of times.”

She added: “I don't like the word victim. I am a survivor, but more so, I am me. As a nation, we need to take control. Sexual offenders need to know that they cannot continue with the crimes they are committing, and no matter how long it takes for a survivor to come forward, their crimes will be exposed.”