Olympic Gymnast McKayla Maroney Blasts Rumors Of Lip Injections

Even if you don’t know her by name, pretty much everyone with an internet connection knows McKayla Maroney as that “Not Impressed” internet meme gymnast, as she was captured on film making the sneer, while watching her fellow Olympics competitors.

Now, McKayla is again in the news over her lips, but this time she’s defending herself against critics who have settled on the idea that she has had lip injections to make them appear fuller. Ms. Maroney speaks out against those rumors, as she opens up about her future endeavors with hopes of remaining in the public eye, but not in gymnastics.

McKayla Maroney Blasts Lip Critics With A Dose Of The Truth

People magazine shared the news that McKayla is bothered by the circulating gossip over the condition of her lips, asserting that she has never had any cosmetic surgery, including the much talked about lip injections. On Saturday, a video presentation was released which focused on the last three gymnastics World Championships and, as such, featured Maroney as one subject of the documentary. In the video, McKayla is not dressed in her typical gymnastics outfit and, instead, is wearing make-up and her hair down, instead of tied up in the manner done for her competition performances. It was this video that prompted the rumors over Maroney’s lips, but she says everyone is mistaken.

The 20-year-old gymnast says that the fuller look to her lips is the result of the passage of time and her new interest in wearing make-up. She adds that there has been no cosmetic surgery involved in plumping up her lips.

“Makeup and a camera can really make you look like a different person,” said Ms. Maroney. “I think it freaks people out to see somebody change just a little bit. I don’t mean to freak anybody out. At the end of the day, I have changed. I can’t blame anybody for saying, ‘Oh, she changed!’ You know, because I have. And that’s OK.”

McKayla added that growing older in front of the world makes aging a much more difficult process, pointing out that so many people are critical of the smallest changes in one’s looks. She says the rumors of lip injections have hurt her feelings, so she wanted to set the record straight.

McKayla Maroney Hopes To Move From The Gym To The Studio

While that internet meme brought attention to McKayla as a world class gymnast, NBC Olympics reveals that she’s actually trying to close that chapter on her life and set out on a new endeavor. Ms. Maroney revealed that she’s interested in pursuing a music career, citing Drake as her role model. Even though she has the drive to try something new, Maroney says it hasn’t been easy to leave gymnastics behind, especially after having had such a high profile career already. She says people still ask about her aspirations in competing in the next Olympics and, when she tells them she won’t be going, they always seem disappointed. McKayla says such encounters affect the way she feels about pursuing other dreams.

“I really thought I was going to be there. Even six or seven months ago,” Maroney said of competing for a spot on the next Olympics gymnastics team. “But I ended up having some different health issues and I didn’t even realize that I was starting to fall out of love with the sport and in love with music.”

Now, she’s focusing on music and McKayla reveals this isn’t a new fancy for her, but a lifelong ambition. She says she’s been writing songs since early childhood and had always hoped to sell her songs to professional recording artists, but even that dream has grown and matured with time.

“I thought I was going to be like Sia and sell my songs to people,” says Ms. Maroney. “But after they were done, I was like, ‘I’m not going to sell these to anybody! I want to sing them.'”

Change is never easy, and McKayla knows first hand that there will be some resistance to her switch in career paths. She says she’s already seen it in the comments she’s received on her Instagram posts, but she’s determined to move forward and pursue her singing career. In that vain, Ms. Maroney has already cut a few demos and is working toward releasing her first single within a couple of months.

[Image by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for GBK Productions]