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Aug 28 2012

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Gabby Douglas Talks Bullying, Criticism & Refusal To Speak To Her Father With Oprah

Mon, Aug 27 2012 by Bitchie Staff | Filed  Under: Celebrities

 

On being bullied at her former gym I was  just kind of getting racist jokes and kind of…being isolated from the group. It  was definitely hard. I would come home at  night and just cry my eyes out because I was like, ‘What did I do to deserve  this?’[...][When the others were asked to scrape the bars in the gym] “They’re  like, ‘Why doesn’t Gabby do it? She’s our slave. It was very offensive and I  really think that it should not have been said. You just don’t do  that.[...]I was the only African-American at that gym. I definitely felt  isolated. I felt, ‘Why am I deserving this? Is it because I’m black?’ Those  thoughts would go through my mind. I was so scared at my old gym to show my  potential because a lot of the girls would isolate me still and I was just  holding back. I felt like I needed to move and really shine and not be  discouraged and let my talent go to waste.

On The Negative Comments About Her Hair [I heard about it  on] Twitter. I looked at my mentions and they were just like, ‘Don’t talk about  Gabby’s hair like that, I love your hair, or Gabby you’re pretty just the way  you are don’t listen to all these negative [comments].’ I’m like what are they  talking about? So I searched it just to see what they were talking about. I put ‘Gabby Douglas’ and the first says ‘Gabby Douglas Hair.’ Like, the first one on  Google. I’m like, what are these people talking about? I was so confused but I  didn’t want to focus on the negative. I hurt a little bit.

Gabby’s mother:  I foresaw it coming. I had a stylist  come down and they did her hair before Olympic trials, and I thought ‘I did  good’. They, other African American women didn’t like it, and that hurt. She has  some great stylists working on her hair  now. We don’t have to worry about the hair anymore.

On No Longer Wanting to Be Called ‘Gabby’ Well, my  friends call me ‘Gabby’ but I think I’d rather be called ‘Gabrielle.’ I like the  beauty of ‘Gabrielle.’

On Not Having Contact With Her Father I  have not [talked to my father since winning]. We’re kind of distant. I got a new  phone and my mom thought it was best to keep me [protected] and him not to have  my phone number so he had no way of  contacting me.[...]I don’t think it would be the best [to contact him]. I think  I’ll just stay kind of under the bubble.

 

Watch the interview in full below as  well as a few unaired clips with Gabby’s family, including her adorable  Grandfather below:

[Video] Full interview

Oprah meets Gabby’s Grandfather and siblings

 

 

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Permanent link to this article: http://joccity.com/gabby-douglas-talks-bullying-criticism-refusal-to-speak-to-her-father-with-oprah/

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