MyKayla Skinner speaks out on ‘Saving Women’s Sports’ after Simone Biles clash

Exclusive: MyKayla Skinner helped Team USA She won the silver medal in women’s gymnastics at the Tokyo Olympics after Simone Biles withdrew due to a sprain.

But by Paris games Last summer, she became an easy target for USA Gymnastics fans.

On July 3 of last year, Skinner posted a video about the 2024 US women’s Olympic gymnastics team, and made controversial comments about the team’s “talent and depth.” The video sparked backlash from fans and even former teammates. “Not everyone needs a microphone and a stage,” Biles wrote in a social media post the same day.

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Michaela Skinner of Team USA takes the silver medal after the women’s vault final on day nine of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Ariake Gymnastics Center on August 01, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Skinner apologized for the comments and insisted they had been “misinterpreted”. But that didn’t stop online attacks from flooding her inbox and her mind.

“Words were twisted, things were said that I didn’t mean, so yeah, it was a very scary and difficult time. I love these girls more than anything, so it was really sad to see what happened and the way they attacked me was very devastating,” Skinner told Fox News Digital.

At the time, Skinner was a new mother.

“I was still sick at the time. And I felt very depressed, because obviously I said some hate,” she said. “I was getting death threats. My agent at the time was getting death threats and emails sent to her, and they were actually calling her on her phone and sending her voice messages.”

Skinner claims some critics went so far as to tell her, “I shouldn’t be a mother.”

“It really took me into a downward spiral, and it was really hard to go through, and I felt like I couldn’t be the mother I needed to be to my daughter,” she said, while becoming visibly emotional. “It was scary to feel like the world hated you.”

But through it all, Skinner says the experience helped her find purpose in becoming an advocate for women’s stain protection. This week it is Become the newest ambassador For activist sportswear brand XX-XY Athletics, to help launch a new Olympic-themed collection called “Gold Medal Campaign.”

“I’ve always believed in protecting women’s sports,” Skinner said. “It’s a really difficult and scary topic, but it’s definitely evolved a lot since that time when I was depressed and feeling alone. It’s given me something else to look forward to and be an advocate for… It’s helped me a lot and made me a lot stronger in talking about this topic.”

It was time for Skinner to act publicly on that passion in June, after Biles got into another online feud.

Conservative influencer Riley Gaines had just posted about an incident involving a transgender softball player who won a girls state championship in Minnesota. Gaines previously called for Biles herself to sign with XX-XY Athletics in the A.J Previous interview with Fox News Digital just three months before March.

But after Gaines made a social media post calling attention to the Minnesota softball case on June 6, Biles infamously and unexpectedly came back at Gaines with a repost of a quote on X, calling Gaines “really sick,” a “straight-up sore loser” and a “bully.” A later post from Biles insinuated that Gaines was “the same size” as a “male.”

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Biles later deleted those posts and issued an apology, but not before Skinner picked a side in the feud. Skinner issued a statement on social media supporting Gaines, while claiming he was a victim of Biles’ “bullying.”

“When I saw that Simon attacked Riley Gaines, it really broke my heart,” Skinner said. “When this thing happened, I was like, ‘You know what, it’s time for me to find my voice and stand up and stand by Riley.’

“This was my opportunity to speak out. I had a former teammate who, you know, came up to someone, and I was like, ‘This is not good.’

Skinner believes Biles has been sincere in her advocacy for transgender inclusion in women’s sports. However, Skinner hopes her former colleague will change her mind.

“I think she believes what she believes. I don’t think she’s on that side, at least not yet, and I hope she can turn herself in and join us,” Skinner said.

Skinner’s interference became one of the biggest twists in the viral feud sensation between Gaines and Biles in early June.

But that came at a cost she was aware of.

“I got a crazy letter in the mail with no return address,” Skinner said. “Basically, once they told me I was going to go to hell, I was going to die. Like, ‘Transgender people are born in the womb,’ and they gave me all this information that I was wrong and that I was stupid and had no idea what I was talking about.”

Skinner said the letter stunned her so much that at one point she thought to herself, “Oh my God, do I need to keep quiet?”

She had deep concerns about speaking up about transgender athletes in women’s sports, or even other sensitive topics. Skinner even had to turn down a previous opportunity to work with Gaines because of those concerns.

“Riley, her team reached out to us a few years before this situation happened. And again, I felt very intimidated. I felt like I couldn’t say anything because in the gymnastics world, I’ve been through a lot of things. I get a lot of criticism. I feel like in the gymnastics world, you can’t have a voice,” Skinner said. “You can’t talk.”

“All we did as gymnasts was eat, sleep and gymnastics 24/7… They almost put the fear in us that we couldn’t say anything because they didn’t want us to have power and control… I was born and raised into that, that’s all I know.”

She also had to face deals over whether she would lose endorsements.

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“I wasn’t doing a lot of endorsement deals anyway, and honestly, it’s not about the money for me. Like, I can find other endorsement deals from people who like and support what I’m doing,” Skinner said.

Through her brand ambassadorship for XX-XY Athletics, Skinner is now teammates with Gaines and other activists in the “Save Women’s Sports” space, including Olympic gold medalist women’s swimmer Nancy Hogshead and former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Paula Scanlan.

The biggest thing she thought her brand was missing was a star with a “top-tier” sports career, company founder Jennifer See told Fox News Digital in February, adding that she knew there were some stars out there, including Olympians that she was “keeping an eye on,” because See knew they were “secretly on her side.”

Sey wanted to be a young athlete, whether in the midst of her career or someone who had recently competed.

Now, with Skinner on its roster, Sey believes it has one of its biggest deals since the company launched.

“It’s huge,” Seay said of Skinner’s recruitment. “People like MyKayla are known to athletes who are competing now in a much bigger way… It’s very important to us, she’s been a USA Gymnastics star for a long time.

“I get DMs from people every day saying ‘We love your brand, and we’re too afraid to wear it.’ The more interest athletes get, the more high-profile athletes speak up, the less fear other people will have, and then we solve that problem.

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