The Olympic gold medalist recalls what led to her and her fellow 2008 Team USA gymnastics alum’s nearly decade-long rift.
Shawn Johnson is opening up about a rough patch in her friendship with fellow Olympic gymnast Nastia Liukin.
While participating in Access Hollywood’s Behind the Easel video series, which was posted to the show’s YouTube channel on Monday, the Olympic gold and three-time silver medalist detailed what led to her and Liukin not speaking for eight years following their time competing on Team USA gymnastics at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
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“Nastia and I were best friends, training, and at the Olympics we were roommates. We were 16 and 18 years old. We were kids,” recalled Johnson, now 32. “I felt like we were under the spotlight and scrutiny so much to be each other’s top, biggest competitors, and we had figured out on the competition floor how to be best friends and competitors.”
“But when the world started kind of interjecting how we should handle it, they said we should also be each other’s worst enemies as well,” she continued, adding, “So we didn’t speak for eight years.”
The Dancing with the Stars Mirrorball champion said she and Liukin reconciled years later after their partners at the time stepped in.
“Our boyfriends at the time got so tired of hearing us talk about each other, that they said, ‘Enough of this, just go talk to each other again,’ and we did,” Johnson recalled. “And ever since then, it’s just been like we haven’t skipped a beat. We’re each other’s best friends, biggest supporters and we just love each other.”
Looking back at their reconciliation, the professional athlete said it was “amazing,” but also “a bit confusing for both of us because we were really nervous because we didn’t know how to rekindle that.”
Johnson said she and Liukin met up in New York and had lunch together. “And truly within two minutes, we were back to being best friends,” she explained. “We both said the same thing of like, ‘I don’t know what happened, but I miss you and I miss us.’ And it’s been that way ever since.”
Both Olympians — who retired from gymnastics in 2012 — offered commentary and made appearances at the 2024 Paris Olympics over the summer, with Johnson being an official correspondent for Yahoo! Sports.
Johnson was also joined by her husband, Andrew East, and their three children: Drew, 4, Jett, 3, and Bear, 9 months, during her trip, and documented their adventures in Paris on social media.
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