Even though Dr. Larry Nassar has been convicted of child porn and is accused of molesting over 140 girls, the fact remains that Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney is not exactly free to testify about his alleged crimes against her.
If she does, the non-disclosure agreement that she signed years ago would reportedly subject her to a $ 100,000 fine.
But one famous and beloved celebrity, Chrissy Teigen, is offering to foot the bill.
Back in October, McKayla Maroney courageously revealed that her team doctor had molested her when she was a minor.
All of those famous moments of her in the Olympics? Those were when she was under the power of Dr. Larry Nassar.
Nassar would allegedly give his young female patients “treatments,” using the pretense of medical care to molest them.
The abuse went on for years.
Since McKayla spoke up, numerous teammates including Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman, have accused Dr. Nassar of similar, heinous abuse.
All told, the number of women who accuse Larry Nassar of sexual abuse number over 140.
Early Tuesday morning, The Daily Mail published that McKayla Maroney is effectively barred from testifying at Dr. Larry Nassar’s sentencing.
To be clear, though he has confessed to a “small” number of sex abuse charges …
(Small only in contrast to the volume of his accusers)
… Dr. Nassar’s sentence of 60 years in prison came from his possession of a truly alarming volume of child pornography.
Dozens of women are scheduled to speak at Nassar’s sentencing, but McKayla Maroney may be barred from giving her own victim impact statement.
We know that this is strange, since McKayla shared her story in a very public manner, months ago.
McKayla is currently suing USA Gymnastics, accusing them of knowing about Dr. Nassar and covering up his crimes (presumably to protect themselves from sharing in the blame).
Oh boy, has that not gone well.
What led to McKayla signing the NDA in the first place was desperation. She was suffering psychological problems as a result of years of trauma from sexual abuse. Unfortunately, receiving her much-needed treatment costs money.
But there are multiple legal challenges to NDAs, particularly when such an agreement appears to exist in order to cover up a crime. We’ll see how that goes.
In the mean time, McKayla is a successful Olympian, but probably not in a position where she could just pay $ 100,000 like it’s a parking ticket.
In the mean time, however, there’s a much more direct and simple solution to McKayla Maroney’s dilemma.
Chrissy Teigen shared the article about how she might be fined, and tweeted:
“The entire principle of this should be fought – an NDA to stay quiet about this serial monster with over 140 accusers, but I would be absolutely honored to pay this fine for you, McKayla.”
That’s such a good move and a very generous offer.
$ 100,000 is a lot of money, but Chrissy Teigen can definitely make good on it, even if you don’t factor in that her husband is John Legend.
But hopefully she won’t have to.
There’s bad press, and then there’s millionaire celebrities had to step in because of our NDA that protects a serial sexual predator bad press.
USA Gymnastics would be smart to wave the NDA. It would make them look better. (Remember how celebrities spoke out, with some like Taylor Swift writing checks, in defense of Kesha? Even Sony was feeling the pressure. That can happen for USA Gymnastics, too)
As of yet, we haven’t seen a public response from McKayla, who seems to no longer be on Twitter and Instagram. (Which we absolutely understand)
