MyKayla Skinner Says She’s ‘Heartbroken’ By Simone Biles’ Applause – Vows To ‘Move On And Move Forward'”

Skinner blocked Biles on Instagram on July 31 after the latter seemed to shade her in a photo caption

Simone Biles (left) and MyKayla Skinner. Photo: Tim Clayton/Corbis/Getty; Donald Miralle /Sports Illustrated/Getty

MyKayla Skinner is speaking out after some back-and-forth drama with Simone Biles during the 2024 Olympic Games.

Skinner, 27, addressed the caption that Biles posted on Instagram seemingly shading her with a lengthy video posted to her own account on Tuesday, Aug. 6, in which she made a direct plea to Biles, 27, to ask her followers to stop cyberbullying Skinner and her family.

In June, Skinner made headlines when she shared harsh criticism for the 2024 U.S. women’s artistic gymnastics team in a since-deleted YouTube video. Skinner later said that her comments were “misinterpreted” and eventually issued a statement apologizing.

In the new clip, Skinner said that after her initial comments in June, she posted an apology video, and sent written apologies and individual messages to the entire Team USA gymnastics lineup, which includes Biles, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, Suni Lee and Hezly Rivera.

“Only Simone had responded and she told me that she was proud of me,” Skinner said. “You guys can imagine my surprise last week when I was celebrating our team winning gold, just to see this brought up all over again by a caption on an Instagram post.”

Skinner continued, saying that if Biles “truly believes” that Skinner called the team “lazy and lacking talent,” as Biles implied in her Instagram caption, then she is “really heartbroken over it.”

The gymnast said she felt as though Biles’ post, which came after Team USA won the women’s team final, “fueled another wave of hateful comments” that included death threats to her, her husband, Jonas Harmer, and their 11-month-old daughter, Charlotte.

“To Simone, I am asking you directly and publicly to please put a stop to this,” Skinner said. “Please ask your followers to stop. You have been an incredible champion for mental health awareness and a lot of people need your help now. We’ve been hurt and attacked in ways that I’m certain you never intended. Your performance, the team’s performance and the Olympics in general should be a time that we support one another and lift each and our country up. I love our country and I love our team. And I hope that we can move on and move forward and cheer on the rest of our teammates and athletes together.”

Simone Biles, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee and Hezly Rivera show off their gold medals on July 30.Jean Catuffe/Getty

Elsewhere in her video, Skinner said she’d hoped the matter “wouldn’t need to be revisited,” but felt the need to speak out after the amount of cyberbullying she and her loved ones faced. “I’m just asking for it to stop for the sake of my family because enough is enough,” she said.

Skinner also said she takes full “responsibility for poorly articulating the point I was trying to make,” and that causing harm or offending Team USA was “the last thing I wanted.”

“I know these women are incredible — the very best of the best — and almost all of them are my former teammates who I have enjoyed very much cheering on the last few years,” said Skinner, who competed in Tokyo in 2021 alongside Biles, Chiles, 23, and Lee, 21.

In her first apology statement, Skinner said it was “not my intention to offend or disrespect any of the athletes or to take away from their hard work.”

“Your hard work and dedication has paid off and I congratulate each and every one of you,” Skinner said in the statement. “Upon reflection I was comparing the ‘Marta Era’ to the current era. I am coming to terms that I have not fully dealt with the emotional and verbal abuse I endured under Marta that perhaps led to my hurtful comments. I take full responsibility for what I said and I deeply apologize.”

In the video at hand, Skinner critiqued the gymnasts’ “work ethic” and said “a lot of girls don’t work as hard.”

The team earned a gold medal in the team all-around final in Paris on July 31. While celebrating their victory on Instagram, Biles wrote, “Lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions ❤️🥇🇺🇸.” It was interpreted by many to be a direct dig at Skinner.

The next day, Biles and Chiles said on X (formerly known as Twitter) and Instagram, respectively, that Skinner had blocked Biles on Instagram.

Skinner and Biles were previously on the U.S. national team together, and also both competed in the Tokyo Games — though Skinner was a solo competitor for the U.S. and not a part of Team USA’s women’s gymnastics team.

To learn more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, come to people.com to check out ongoing coverage before, during and after the games. And sign up for Going for Gold, our Olympics newsletter, to get the biggest stories from the Games delivered straight to your inbox. Watch the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, beginning July 26, on NBC and Peacock.