What Is a Girl Worth?: My Story of Breaking the Silence and Exposing the Truth about Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics

They taught us that their authority was limited and would only be exercised for the right reasons and in the right way. This meant that they would discuss their decisions with us, hear and respect our input, and work with us to find a way forward. It didn’t mean that obedience wasn’t necessary or that we were allowed to argue them into changing the

In other words, my motivation needed to be love—not anger, not revenge—which meant doing only what was necessary to restrain without a desire to harm the other person.

Love would ensure a willingness to hear and see the truth, even if it meant admitting I was wrong. Love would ensure compassion even for those who did wrong, while still enabling fierce pursuit of the truth. To that end, I was given the tools for speaking up early and often, and I was given permission to use them. So I did.

“You need to know,” he started, “this does not diminish your value. This doesn’t make me think less of you.” He looked over at me and I glanced back briefly. “All this does is give me direction for how to best serve and care for you. Honestly . . .” He laughed just a bit. “I’ve been wondering this whole time what I could possibly bring to the relat

The truth is, I had the tools I needed, and I knew how to use them from an early age. Yet when the time came, they were not enough to help me be heard and be believed.

Who is going to find the survivors who have no one? Who is even going to see the survivor who isn’t on the news? Who will find these hurting people and tell them how much they are worth?

An older woman came forward to tell the story of her daughter, Chelsey. I heard audible sobs when she revealed—partway through her story—that she spoke on behalf of her daughter only because her daughter was no longer here. Chelsey had committed suicide, never having recovered from the damage of what Larry had done.

“You always have a right to defend yourself and others,” they had said, “but never ever lash out in anger. Don’t become what you are fighting. Do only what is necessary to keep everyone safe.”

“For all those involved . . . I’m so horribly sorry,” he said, shaking his head. “This was like a match that turned into a forest fire out of control.”