In high school I never went to the prom because I was too consumed with gymnastics. Also, with my hair in pigtails and looking about 10, I wasn’t exactly date material.
Of course, most people remember that I received the first perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics competition.
When I compete, I tell myself to be calm. It’s not something that’s the rest of your life. You’re in gymnastics for fun.
I think all people are familiar with thinking about their death and trying to come to terms with the fact that we will, at some point, no longer exist. The loss of one’s ego is very tough to reconcile with; you really have to do a lot of mental gymnastics to wrap your head around the idea of just not existing anymore.
I have to do some mental gymnastics as an actor sometimes, to remember not to let certain things in.
I was always interested in skateboarding, BMX bike riding, flipping, gymnastics. Anything with tumbling, turning, twisting, and extreme sports.
Everyone always asks if I’m going to ‘make my kids do CrossFit.’ I’ll never make them do anything. I will, however, make sure that they’re physically active in some way, that they’ll play some type of sport or do gymnastics or dance or something.
My parents met during their time at Cal Berkeley while they were both on the gymnastics team. Due to their intense gymnastics background, I started doing ‘Mommy and Me’ classes when I was 2 years old.
