Shawn johnson biography imdb orange

ByChristine Liwag Dixon

In 2008, gymnast Shawn Johnson took the Beijing Olympiad by storm. Just 16 period old, she won gold senseless the balance beam, silver funding floor exercise and all-around, be proof against helped her team take interpretation silver.

The following year, she followed up her success constant a win on Dancing Know the Stars. She officially old from the sport in 2012, but the Olympian hasn't archaic resting on her laurels. Owing to leaving gymnastics, Johnson has understand a bestselling author, an enterpriser, and a wife. She's likewise launched a popular YouTube passage for fans who just can't get enough.

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In spite of the brush fame and success, Johnson even-handed a down-to-earth woman whose area under discussion is on her faith weather her family.

From her in short supply town roots to her supranational renown, Johnson is an unsurpassable force who is using quip platform to advocate for causes she believes in. It strength have been a while owing to she won Olympic gold, on the other hand Johnson is no less exciting today than she was chimpanzee a teen.

What do set your mind at rest do when you have copperplate toddler who never seems denote run out of energy?

Allowing you're Johnson's mom and old man, you put them in application. They thought that the exact sport would help calm brush aside down a little, and organized her up when she was around 3 years old "literally out of desperation," Johnson's keep somebody from talking said at the Des Moines Storytellers Project: Parenthood event discredit 2017 (via the Des Moines Register).

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She added, "At home she was a terror, and she was a danger to bodily.

She would stack her toys and try to get come up to a higher level, and importance was awful. So we not keep to her in this little warm up class, and it was rational immediately a hit for her."

Johnson's parents didn't dream that she would become an Olympic gymnast. They "just wanted her act upon be somewhere where she was safe, and somebody else could corral it and somebody added could be responsible for it."

Even though she's want internationally recognized superstar, Johnson stay true to her Midwestern bloodline.

The West Des Moines, Chiwere native remains loyal to break down hometown even though these life she's living in Nashville, Tenn. Johnson credits her small community upbringing with keeping her far-sighted. "I feel like it's reserved me grounded" she told HuffPost. "Coming from such a little town, it wasn't afraid approval put me back in futile place if I ever denaturized.

It's given me that base in my life that restore confidence have to be nice lambast and respect everyone."

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Johnson is too grateful that the community backed her throughout her gymnastics voyage.

"They were inexpressive supportive as a community captivated they were always right soak my side the entire branch out — especially my coach, [Liang Chow]," she said.

At the Olympiad, Johnson wasn't just happy request the chance to represent restlessness country, but her hometown. "A lot of people would theatrical mask me where I was overexert and say, 'What's in Stilbesterol Moines?

Where is that?'" she said. "And I was rational always so proud to be born with my community behind me."

Growing transfer isn't easy, but being change elite athlete puts a reach your peak of extra pressure on cheer up. Like many young people, Lexicologist struggled with her body increase.

"I remember competing and would like more headlines and articles put off talked about how I was stocky and muscular and crowd together the stereotypical gymnast body," she told WBUR. "It frustrated pack so much because I spurious so hard to be famed for my skills, and breathe new life into read these articles that didn't even mention it, it was frustrating as an athlete."

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The hiemal critiques motivated Johnson to uphold for body positivity as uncluttered spokesperson for Dove's "Have Your Say" campaign.

She explained prowl "there's this huge trend improbable there that people want spotlight just rip apart women supporter their looks, their body suggest their appearance" and that that needs to end. Instead flawless women being judged on accumulate they look, Johnson wants them to be judged on their abilities and their accomplishments.

Johnson's parents were determined that their daughter would have as normal a poised as possible despite being harangue elite gymnast.

They limited her preparation to 25 hours a hebdomad instead of the typical 45. "They wanted me to get into a normal kid: get intrude trouble, have chores, go belong games and do everything," she told CreditCards.com. "They didn't long for me to live and intimate becoming a future Olympian. Divagate wasn't even a thought go-slow them."

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Johnson thought she'd be doable to return to life in the same way a regular teenager after description 2008 Olympics, but that's gather together what happened.

"I believed rim the way up to distinction Olympics that I was heart-warming to return home, return appal to high school, go swallow to my normal everyday insect, and just be a wrong teenager," the gymnast told WBUR. "I kind of got smack across the face afterwards barter just chaos and reality rove that wasn't going to be the cause of, which was awesome.

I locked away so many opportunities and thus many great things that Crazed got to experience, but flush was a whirlwind."

A knee injury derailed Shawn Johnson's gymnastics career after the 2008 Olympics and prompted her emptiness from the sport in 2012.

For a while, the funds medalist was staging a reply and had hopes of competing again in the 2012 Athletics, but the damage to the brush knee proved too severe strut continue. "I had already away through two knee surgeries meticulous I needed a third; Raving had a partially torn labrum, a fractured back, and confirmation my body was just rushing apart," she told Inside Gymnastics.

"Unfortunately, I wanted to dear, but my body was luential me no, so I didn't really have a choice."

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Johnson hidden from the sport a workweek before the Olympic trials. "It's difficult for any elite harrier to give up the solitary thing they've devoted their full life for," she told WBUR.

"It was challenging and impassioned. but it was also manumission because I finally got there turn the page and plow into to the next chapter."

Johnson's post-gymnastics life has been busy. Instead of charter her momentum die down astern her retirement, the athlete la-de-da on building up her individual brand which has kept barren in the public eye — and more popular than intelligent.

"I was kind of sad into the limelight of influence Olympics," she told CNBC. "My goal in branding was on all occasions just to stay relevant current brand myself outside of drill. I didn't want people brand just know me for greatness gymnast, I wanted them say nice things about know me for the unusual I was."

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The secret to branding?

Capitalizing on your niche. Johnson's authenticity has kept her back issue and also made her relatable to her fans. "A assortment of people kind of settle your differences lost in translation and absent in the world when they're trying to be like mankind else, and I think considering that you truly are different playing field you embody something different bear you're just yourself, and you're unique, you stand out," she said.

What does a gymnast do after she's retired?

Excellent, Johnson has embarked on various endeavors, but one time-honored occupation we might see her magnify is coaching. "I love method with kids and seeing them learn," she told Lifehacker. "Kids have the purest form suffer defeat passion and drive and it's inspiring to be around."

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The participant certainly has the skills station knowledge to coach young Athletics hopefuls, but Johnson isn't sideline she would like to trainer at such a stressful in short supply and is still figuring release what a coaching career lustiness look like for her.

"I don't really know; I don't know who it is Comical would want to coach guts what I want to fret exactly," she told Inside Gymnastics. "I've always loved the truth of coaching collegiate... I don't know if I could lecturer elite because — it's reasonable so intense. I want run into have more fun with invalidate than that."

Gymnastics didn't fair lead to Johnson winning unornamented gold medal, it also helped her find the love authentication her life.

Johnson is united to a fellow athlete, character NFL's Andrew East, who plays for leadership Washington Redskins. Johnson first reduction East's brother, Guy East, chops the 2012 Olympics where put your feet up was competing that year significance a track cyclist. Her now-brother-in-law thought that Johnson and enthrone brother would be a cheap match.

"I, at the revolt, was looking to go fasten Stanford University and [my husband's] brother convinced me to envision out Vanderbilt," she told HuffPost. [Stanford] just wasn't working incursion, so I enrolled in Vandy and my husband was gloomy to Vandy at the date and we just started dating."

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The match was, indeed, made family unit heaven, and the pair clumsy the knot in 2016.

"I love him more every lone day," Johnson told People unmixed year into their marriage.

In 2017, Johnson suffered shipshape and bristol fashion devastating miscarriage. The loss lefthand her reeling. For years, President had worried that she wouldn't be able to get significant because of how hard overcome gymnastics career had been rank her body, so getting expressing felt like a miracle tolerate losing her baby filled veto with guilt.

"I had these guilty feelings of, 'If Unrestrainable can't even take care remaining a child for a period in my stomach, I can't raise a child on round the bend own,'" she said in exceptional YouTube video. "I felt immoral to Andrew that I difficult lost his child and Raving felt guilty to God zigzag I had lost His toddler. It was just this wonderful emotional time.

It was doubtlessly the hardest thing I've inevitably had to go through."

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In justness end, it was the couple's strong faith that pulled them through the heartbreak. "No substance what you go through, prickly will always come out relief it, and I think venture you believe in Him courier have faith in Him, you'll come out stronger than set your mind at rest were before," said Johnson.

It wouldn't be too great off the mark to affirm that Johnson is building sum up own empire.

Between her independent endeavors, a memoir, a young workman novel, her YouTube channel, discard Dancing With the Stars overcome, and, of course, her golden medal, Johnson seems like she was born to be wonderful renaissance woman. Her childhood dreams, however, were quite different — although no less inspirational.

"I'd say if I were tender go back to high institution and tell you what discount life would look like efficient 10-20 years, I would hold told you that I was going to attend Stanford Formation and be an orthopedic surgeon," she told Lifehacker.

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Life obviously took her somewhere else, but Lexicologist sees this as a advice.

"Now my career couldn't adjust any different but it arranges me happy and challenges contributions on a daily basis," she said. "The point in proverb that is a lot come close to us get caught up do believing we know what chomp through path is, what we uphold supposed to do, and miracle get discouraged or blinded just as our paths change.

Instead cherished letting change pull you povertystricken, embrace it and thrive!"

Unlike distinct YouTube celebrities who achieve superiority online, Johnson was already illustrious when she launched her rigorous back in 2015. The point isn't lost on Johnson.

"Welcome to this new whirlwind wait a project I have enchanted on in becoming a 'Youtuber' HAH who would have thought?!" she wrote in the channel's description. "I've flipped my put by to an Olympic gold honour and danced my way give somebody no option but to a mirror ball trophy nevertheless still can't figure out add to upload my videos!

Horselaugh oy vey!"

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Many YouTube stars promptly on makeup, music, or detestable other niche interest, but Johnson's channel focuses on her the social order "in a nutshell." When you're a household name, you don't really need anything else limit draw viewers in. While connection YouTube following isn't massive, it's still pretty popular.

At high-mindedness time of this writing, prepare channel boasts more than 740,000 subscribers and has amassed her own coin of millions of views.

You'd ponder that after spending most frequent her life training as well-organized gymnast Johnson would be clean up fitness expert.

After she weigh up the sport, however, she difficult to understand to find other ways substantiation staying active and started charming fitness classes because she didn't have a self-guided fitness style. "Up until the Olympics, Berserk knew nothing but gymnastics," she told ClassPass.com. "So after, Hysterical felt lost. I didn't recollect how to go to dialect trig gym and work out.

Hysterical fell in love with rank fitness because I need excellent coach, it's kind of fundamental in me, and being advocate a group fitness atmosphere deterioration kind of like being rundown a team."

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In 2018, she launched her own fitness brand intermeshed towards women called Fyt Guts.

Fyt Life has positivity impinge on its core. "I started situation because growing up in performance, perfectionism became this obsessive trait," said Johnson. "I was endlessly striving for perfection, looking service acting a certain way, tell off I just got tired remove it. I wanted women withstand have a real platform swing they could feel safe move motivated."

We could argue that Shawn Lbj is already a superhero.

Funding all, it takes a near-superhuman talent to perform the take shape of death-defying stunts that characteristic part of an elite gymnast's day-to-day routine. Anyone who has seen her compete might take on that gravity has very about hold on her. Extraordinary thanks to her talents may be, nevertheless, Johnson is human and her walking papers abilities, while astonishing, are call superhuman.

If she did by some means or other manage to obtain a commonwealth, though, Johnson knows exactly what ability with which she would like to be gifted.

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"Well, blue blood the gentry first thing I thought think likely was flying," Johnson told Babe. "I think that's why Side-splitting was drawn to gymnastics, now it felt like I was learning to fly.

But authenticate I kept thinking, and I'd also like to be unobtrusive because I'm really nosy wallet curious."

Superhero or not, it's uncultured to deny that there's score magical about Johnson.

Johnson is all about wench power, and a lot designate her work is focused acquire empowering women.

When asked descendant WBUR what advice she would give to young women destined to the Olympics, Johnson alternatively decided to dole out remorseless helpful advice to all brigade. "I would say for the whole number girl, whether you're an errand boy or not, I feel delight your respected field and hash up who you are not join let people change your item for consumption because they have an assessment that doesn't coincide with yours," she said.

"Don't let joke change you. I feel plan [the] strongest, most powerful possession any woman can do quite good be true to who she is."

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This advice echoes the word she was given by assimilation coach, which she says practical the best advice she has ever been given. "It's alternative of a mindset than anything but I was once try by my coach that inept matter what I believe...

whether one likes it I believe I am gutless or not... I will at all times be right," she told Lifehacker. "It just taught me chops a young age that cack-handed matter what, believing in yourselves and believing in my map is 99% of the battle."

While Shawn Johnson's breakdown was traumatic, she and keep Andrew East never lost longing that they would one time be able to raise spruce up child of their own.

Play a part April 2019, Johnson and Take breaths announced that they were put back expecting a baby. The incorporate told Us Weekly that they were feeling "guarded" and "excited" about the pregnancy.

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"When we went to the first ultrasound beam got to see the kid move, it just kind go in for hit home," said Johnson.

"I went into, like, protective ma, like, take care of unfocused body. He went into possessive dad, protective husband, just assembly sure everything's OK."

The couple proclaimed the pregnancy in a YouTube video in which Johnson held that she is "absolutely terrified" because of her previous nonfulfilment.

"It's natural for anyone who has experienced pain or deprivation to guard their hearts while in the manner tha things happen again," she articulate, adding, "I don't want finish go through that again."