Chrissy Teigen offers to pay McKayla Maroney's fine for violating NDA against Larry Nassar

Taryn Ryder
·Writer, Yahoo Entertainment
Chrissy Teigen shows support for McKayla Maroney. (Photo: Getty Images)
Chrissy Teigen shows support for McKayla Maroney. (Photo: Getty Images)

Chrissy Teigen wants McKayla Maroney to have her day in court.

The Sports Illustrated model has offered to pay the $100,000 fine Maroney might incur if she decides to speak at Larry Nassar’s sentencing, breaking her non-disclosure agreement (NDA). After seeing headlines that Maroney would be in violation of one she signed in 2016, Teigen, 32, took to Twitter to lend her support the Olympic gold medalist.

Teigen’s tweet sparked other celebs to follow suit. TV writer and producer, Ken Tremendous, Kristen Bell, and Susan Sarandon also weighed in.

The USA team’s longtime gymnastics doctor plead guilty to seven counts of criminal sexual conduct. Maroney, one of the Fierce Five from the 2012 Summer Olympics, revealed in October that Nassar began sexually abusing her at age 13. It continued until she left the sport at age 20.

In 2016, Maroney, now 22, received a $1.25 million settlement from USA Gymnastics after the organization learned of Nassar’s actions. Part of the settlement included an NDA, prohibiting Maroney to speak about the abuse. Breaking that comes with a potential $100,000 penalty.

Maroney came forward to share her harrowing story after she was inspired by the #MeToo movement last year.

“Dr. Nassar told me that I was receiving ‘medically necessary treatment that he had been performing on patients for over 30 years,‘” Maroney wrote in a lengthy post. “It started when I was 13 years old, at one of my first National Team training camps, in Texas, and it didn’t end until I left the sport. It seemed whenever and wherever this man could find the chance, I was ‘treated.’”

Maroney claimed Nassar sexually abused her twice during the Summer 2012 Olympics, once before she won the gold medal and once before she won the silver. Another horrific account was when the disgraced doctor gave her a “sleeping pill” on a flight to Tokyo.

“For me, the scariest night of my life happened when I was 15 years old,” she wrote. “I had flown all day and night with the team to get to Tokyo. He’d given me a sleeping pill for the flight, and the next thing I know, I was all alone with him in his hotel room getting a ‘treatment.’ I thought I was going to die that night.”

More than 100 gymnasts have come forward accusing Nassar of abuse, including Olympians Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, and Gabby Douglas. On Tuesday, some of Nassar’s alleged victims came forward to speak in what’s expected to be the first of many days of victim impact testimony as part of his criminal sentencing.

It remains to be seen if Teigen’s offer will have any impact on whether Maroney will participate.

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