It turns out there was a time when Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin were not besties!
The two gymnasts competed together for Team USA during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. However, they were more than just teammates. Shawn and Nastia were BFFs throughout training and at the games, it was a really special relationship to watch. Shawn opened up to Access Hollywood of their bond in an interview this week:
“Nastia and I were best friends, training, and at the Olympics we were roommates. We were 16 and 18 years old. We were kids. I felt like we were under the spotlight and scrutiny so much to be each other’s top, biggest competitors, and we had figured out on the competition floor how to be best friends and competitors.”
As the pair tried to work out the complicated dynamic, though, the public started to put their two cents in and said they should be foes, not friends. Jeez. Sadly, Nastia and Shawn could not block out the noise, and they really did become just what everyone wanted — rivals.
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And their feud lasted a long time, too! Like, almost a decade! Damn! Shawn said:
“When the world started kind of interjecting how we should handle it, they said we should also be each other’s worst enemies as well, so we didn’t speak for eight years.”
So sad. It sucks that the pressure Shawn and Nastia faced at such a young age got to them. For 8 years, the Olympians had no contact. However, they were always on each other’s minds and even talked to their significant others about each other. It eventually got to the point where their boyfriends became so fed up that the girls refused to speak, they pushed them to do so. And it worked! The mom of three recalled:
“Our boyfriends at the time got so tired of hearing us talk about each other, that they said, ‘Enough of this, just go talk to each other again,’ and we did.”
According to Shawn, she and Nastia met up for lunch in New York City to hash everything out. And it didn’t take them long to realize how much they missed each other and to make amends! She said:
“It was amazing. It also was really confusing for both of us cause we were really nervous. We didn’t know how to rekindle that. … It was truly within, like, two minutes we were back to being best friends. We both said the same thing of like, ‘I don’t know what happened, but I miss you and I miss us,’ and then it’s been that way ever since.”
Aww!! Shawn noted their friendship has not “skipped a beat” since that day, adding:
“We’re each other’s best friends, biggest supporters and we just love each other.”
It’s wonderful they were able to find their way back to each other! Watch the interview (below):
Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments!
[Image via WENN, TODAY/YouTube, Nastia Liukin/Instagram]
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