‘Closest thing to death’: Simone Biles reveals how sleep helped her cope with sex abuse

Biles spoke with actress, Priyanka Chopra on her YouTube channel about details of the sex abuse that still haunt her.


 

Olympic Gold medal-winning gymnast Simone Biles finally broke her silence about how she coped with sexual abuse from former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, according to People magazine.

Biles spoke with actress Priyanka Chopra on her YouTube channel, If I Could Tell You Just One Thing, revealing that the memories still affect her and she still attends therapy to cope.

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The 22-year-old was one of the few women who was brave enough to talk about the abuse she experienced at the hands of Nassar.

On the show, which aired Wednesday, Biles said she decided to deny the abuse because she was afraid to be known as a sexual abuse survivor.”

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“I’m not willing to put that out there for the world to see,” Biles said. “They’re not going to see me as Simone the gymnast, they’re going to see Simone the sexual abuse survivor.”

Internally, she knew the situation was a problem once she disclosed her experience with her mother. She revealed to Chopra that she used sleep to manage her depression.

“I told one of my lawyers, I said, ‘I sleep all the time because it’s the closest thing to death,’” she explained.

Biles eventually decided to speak to detectives about the abuse.

“It wasn’t easy, but I feel like I’m a stronger woman today and I feel like telling my story has helped younger girls.”

Larry Nassar was sentenced up to 175 years in prison in January 2018, according to People. He was charged with sexually abusing more than 150 women and girls in the span of two decades.

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