US gymnast Jordan Chiles has opened up on the abuse she suffered at the hands of a coach in the early stages of her career.
Chiles, who won gold with Team USA at the Paris Olympics last summer, has detailed the highs and lows of her journey to success in her memoir, ‘I’m That Girl: Living the Power of My Dreams,’ which is released Tuesday.
Throughout the book, the 23-year-old shares inspiring memories from her initial passion for the sport, her friendship with gymnastic legend and teammate Simone Biles and her first time on the Olympic stage.
However, Chiles also opens up on the struggles she endured, courageously revealing how a former coach’s verbal and emotional abuse led to suicidal thoughts and an unhealthy relationship with food.
The coach, who is kept anonymous and referred to only as ‘Coach X’ in the book, would attack Chiles’s race, body and eating habits, the gymnast writes.
‘Coach X,’ who reportedly struggled with alcoholism, would often call Chiles ‘fat,’ she details in the book.
US gymnast Jordan Chiles has opened up on the abuse she suffered at the hands of a coach
Chiles appeared on Good Morning America to discuss the release on her memoir on Tuesday
The 23-year-old revealed that the attacks led to suicidal thoughts and an eating disorder
While she was never formally diagnosed with an eating disorder, Chiles believes she struggled with her relationship with food as a consequence of the abuse.
However, speaking to Good Morning America ahead of the book’s release Tuesday, Chiles said she believes that the trauma made her stronger.
‘Every woman goes through a lot of things whether it is mental health, physical within them and I think understanding our trauma can sometimes make us stronger us in ways a lot of people can’t see,’ Chiles told Michael Strahan.
‘Going through those things, I understand now that I’m older, it was something I was always going to go through no matter what. I was taught to be strong. I was taught to be confident. I was taught a lot of those things by my own mom.
‘Just understand at the end of the day, I will be able to stand on two feet and be encouraged and seen in millions of different ways. Everything I have done has been a gift from god. I’ve been able to stay resilient and stay independent and just to continue to show the world what it’s like to be loved and be grateful.’
Ahead of the book’s release, Chiles also opened up on how she supported close friend Biles when the extent of disgraced doctor Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse was uncovered.
Chiles and Biles both trained at the now-closed Karolyi Ranch National Team Training Center in Huntsville, Texas where hundreds of gymnasts suffered sexual abuse at the hands of the pedophile doctor .
While Chiles was never one of Nassar’s victims, Biles was one of more than 150 gymnasts who were abused by the former national team doctor during his 30-year career.
Chiles, who helped Team USA to gold last year, competes at the Big Four meet this month
Chiles has detailed the moment she discovered Simone Biles had been sexually abused
And Chiles, who won gold with Biles in the team event at the Paris Olympics last summer, has now detailed the moment she discovered that her friend had been abused by Nassar.
‘When that whole thing happened, trust me, I was devastated,’ Chiles told PEOPLE . ‘Still, to this day, I’ve never talked to her about it. I don’t think I ever will talk to her about it because that was her life, and you never know how hard it is on somebody.’
In 2019, Biles revealed that the trauma of the assaults had left her struggling with suicidal thoughts.
She hit the headlines at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics for her shock withdrawal, which she later hinted was in part due to the sexual abuse she had suffered from Nassar.
At the time, she admitted that she was ‘sleeping all the time’ because it was ‘the closest thing to death’, while revealing that she was undergoing therapy in order to deal with the abuse.
