Gabby Douglas Hair Controversy, Bullying, Racist Jokes Exposed on Oprah Interview

Gabby Douglas opened up to Oprah about the issues surrounding her upbringing, hair, bullying, racism, training and more in the interview that aired on August 26. The Olympic gold medalist has not had an easy journey to reach the gold status in this year's London games.

Gabby, who prefers to be called Gabrielle, shared her painful memories of being bullied by her teammates in Virginia, which played a part in leading her to move 2000 miles away from home to Iowa to train.

"I was getting racist jokes. I was being isolated from the group. I'd come home at night and cry my eyes out because 'What did I do to deserve this?'"

One of the nasty jokes that cut into Gabby's heart was when one of her teammates said, "'Can you scrape the bar?' and "well why doesn't Gabby do it? She's our slave".

The bright side of the story is that Douglas did not let the hate take over her life, and instead, she believed in herself and gained the gold for America.

Gabby also spoke about the controversy surrounding her hair that became the talk of town after she took home gold.

"I searched it, just to see what they were talking about. I put Gabby Douglas and then it first says 'Gabby Douglas hair' like the first one on Google," Douglas said.

During the games, many African American women spouted comments about Douglas' hair including "She needs some gel and a brush..." or
"Someone needs to give her a hair intervention..."

Instead of celebrating the 16-year-old's talent and handwork, the focus went to something rather superficial.

Douglas admitted to Oprah that it did sting when she found out what the fuss was all about.

She is no longer pulled down by what others say, simply because she has already experienced the love from those close to her.

Her mother Natalie, her host mother and father Missy and Travis Parton, her expert coach Liang Chow, were by her side the entire time and gave the support Douglas needed to become a world class star.