McKayla Maroney Was ‘Suicidal’ After Years Of Sexual Abuse By Dr. Larry Nassar
Dec. 7 2017, Updated 12:55 p.m. ET
Olympic gold medalist McKayla Maroney turned suicidal after her years of sexual abuse from Dr. Larry Nassar, the victim’s mother claimed this Wednesday.
Presiding the physician’ trial, McKayla and her mother Erin wrote letters to the federal judge. While the gymnast previously had planned to appear in court and deliver her statement, the situation turned out to be too painful for her, which is why they sent the written messages.
“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,” added the athlete’s heartbroken mother.
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.
Initially, McKayla had planned to appear in court on Thursday to deliver a victim-impact statement during the sentencing phase of Nassar's trial.
As RadarOnline.com readers know, McKayla, 21, shared her confession about the disgraced doctor earlier this year, in an explosive message inspired by the “Me Too” movement. In it she claimed the 54-year-old molested her from the age of 13 until she retired from gymnastics just last year.
“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 tell-all letter to the court.
She continued detailing her horrific encounters with Dr. Larry, claiming he once drugged her on a plane only to forcefully “treat” her in his hotel room.
“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 to the judge. “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,” she continued.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, McKayla’s fellow gymnasts Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas also came forward to accuse Dr. Larry of sexual abuse.
Dr. Larry Nassar pleaded guilty to the charges of sexual assault by Mckayla as well as by over 130 other female gymnasts. He admitted that his youngest victim was just 10 years old when he digitally penetrated her without her or her parents’ consent. He also pleaded guilty to possession of child porn and other criminal charges.
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The former physician is now facing a minimum sentence of 25 years.
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