Gabby Douglas Bullied, Tells Oprah She Almost Left Gymnastics

Sixteen-year-old Gabby Douglas was bullied by her fellow gymnasts and nearly quit the sport all together. That revelation was part of a new clip released as a teaser clip for an upcoming interview with Oprah Winfrey on OWN.

Gabby’s mother, Natalie Hawkins, told Oprah, “She started asking to move away, she wanted the family to move at first, when she was about 11.”

At 14-years-old, Gabby told her mom she wanted to move away and find a new coach or quit the sport all together. Gabby explains to Oprah:

“I felt like I was bullied and isolated from the group, and they treated me not how they would treat the other teammates.”

Gabby has been on a crusade to talk about her time at the hands of bullies; she recently sat down with a group of children in New York where she said:

“I wanted to tell my story and where I came from and my background, because it was not easy. I had to face a lot coming through this journey, a lot of sacrifices, difficulties, challenges, and injuries.

The gold medalist further proclaimed:

“I wanted everyone to know it’s still possible for anyone really. I wanted to make them know to never give up and always keep fighting, because though times may be tough, the sacrifices do pay off, so just keep pushing towards your dream and just love it at the same time and enjoy it.”

The teen’s interview with Oprah wasn’t all sadness and reminiscing; Gabby also got up on the balance beam and showed Oprah how to perform a move known as the scale.

In the meantime, Gabby’s very same coaches who she claims participated in her bullying have complained as of late that they have not been given enough credit for her sudden rise to fame.

Here’s the short preview clip for the Oprah interview with Gabby and her mom:

[iframe src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/3UGOsnHaaoo” width=”560? height=”315?]

If you are interesting in hearing how Gabby Douglas was bullied, you can check out her OWN interview with Oprah on Sunday at 8:30 pm.