Olivia Dunne opens up about 'concerning' attention she gets from men

2023-01-20

Gymnast and TikTok sensation Olivia Dunne, 20, reveals POLICE had to get involved after a ‘concerning’ situation with a social media fan – days after she hired a BODYGUARD to protect her from male fans

Olivia, 20, opened up about the ‘concerning’ attention she receives from men
Her LSU team had to hire extra security after a gang of teen boys mobbed a meet
‘As a woman, you are not responsible for how a man looks at you and objectifies you,’ the TikTok star, with about 10 million followers, said

TikTok star and gymnast Olivia Dunne has opened up about the ‘concerning’ attention she receives from men – while revealing that the police had to get involved in one particularly troubling incident.

The 20-year-old LSU college athlete and influencer – who has more than 6.8 million followers on TikTok and 3.1 million followers on Instagram – opened up to the Today show about the darker side of her online fame, just days after her coach revealed he hired a bodyguard to protect her from hoards of screaming teenage fans who were amassing at her meets.

‘They gave us some new rules, just to keep us safe: Not to go into the stands after meets and we have a new security person that travels with us,’ Olivia – or Livvy as she is known online – explained.

The recent incident involving the ‘rude’ fans who tried to ‘mob’ Olivia at a meet was not the first time her coaches had raised concerns about her safety – with the Today show revealing that LSU went to the police last year ‘over an incident’, but did not share any other details about what or who was involved.

TikTok star and gymnast Olivia Dunne has opened up about the ‘concerning’ attention she receives from men after her team was forced to hire extra security

Earlier this year the LSU gymnastics team had to add an extra layer of security for the rest of the season after a gang of ‘rude’ teenage boys tried to mob the 20-year-old known as Livvy

However, Olivia did open up about her fears over the ‘threatening’ comments she receives on social media, explaining: ‘There are some people occasionally that do reach out, and it is a bit concerning.’

The 20-year-old – who makes a staggering seven figures a year from her social media accounts – hit back at any suggestion that her content, which ranges between tongue-in-cheek dance and gymnastics videos and bikini snaps on the beach – is to blame for any negative attention she receives.

‘As a woman, you are not responsible for how a man looks at you and objectifies you. That’s not a woman’s responsibility,’ she said.

Still, Olivia’s overwhelming social media stardom has forced both her – and her coaches – to implement new rules and regulations around athlete safety.

‘[Social media] changes everything,’ Olivia’s LSU coach Jay Clark said. ‘It creates a false sense of accessibility and familiarity that [makes] followers feel as though there’s a personal connection.’

Nowhere has that been more overtly clear than at a recent LSU meet against Utah, which was swarmed by hoards of teenage fans who tried to mob the online superstar.

‘So in the past, I have had some of my supporters come out to meets and watch and cheer for LSU, but that was insane. It really was,’ Olivia said of the disturbing incident.

At the time, Olivia shared a personal plea with her fans on Twitter, asking them to ‘be respectful’ of her fellow gymnasts.

‘I will always appreciate and love the support from you guys, but if you come to a meet, I want to ask you to please be respectful of the other gymnasts and the gymnastics community as we are just doing our job,’ she wrote.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=9G4h09bnLbw%3Frel%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26hl%3Den-US

Of the attention she receives, Olivia told Today it was ‘hard to wrap [her] head around’

A video posted to Twitter by fellow gymnast Samantha Peszek showed the crowd of fans chanting Olivia’s name outside of the venue. As Samantha exited, they started to heckle at her and aggressively scream things like, ‘Give us Livvy’

Olivia has not been taking part in the team’s meets recently because of an injury. She last competed on December 12 and instead has been supporting her teammates from the sidelines.

Previously, there were scarce details about what had led to her being benched.

A group of ‘rude’ teenage boys mobbed her and the other gymnasts as they left a meet in Utah on January 6 – and they even yelled rude things to her teammates, calling them ‘Livvy 2.0’ and complaining that they weren’t her

But the blonde beauty revealed earlier this month that it’s her foot that has been injured, posting a snap of herself wearing a boot to her Instagram Stories.

It’s unclear when she will be able to compete again.

Olivia, originally from New Jersey, first started participating in gymnastics at the age of three.

‘I pretty much sacrificed my summers. You know, those pool days, those beach days with your friends, I was in the gym training,’ she told Today.

Now Olivia is one of the top earners in collegiate sport, reportedly amassing a net worth of $2.3 million thanks to thanks to her athletic abilities, as well as her many lucrative sponsorship deals.

Though she didn’t say exactly how much she was making, she did reveal to Today it was in the millions.

‘I’m very grateful to be making seven figures. It is very cool that someone in college has the opportunity to do that now,’ she said.

Olivia showed with her injured foot in a boot that’s seen her stop competing for now

Olivia, originally from New Jersey, first started participating in gymnastics at the age of three – and she is now one of the top earners in collegiate sport

In addition to her success as an athlete, she has also found fame as a well-known star on TikTok and Instagram, where she regularly documents her her lavish lifestyle with her joint nine million followers

Olivia grew her social media following by sharing an inside look at her life as an NCAA gymnast – and all the glamorous perks that come with it.

And while the social media star soon became the most-followed collegiate athlete on the internet, initially she wasn’t allowed to make any money from her internet endeavors because of the NCAA’s strict policy about its members selling sponsorships.

That is, until June 30, 2021, when the organization changed its rules, announcing that it would allow its athletes to earn a profit off of their name, image, and likeness – a move that turned Olivia into a millionaire at only 18 years old, according to the New York Post.

But her stardom has become so intense recently that her supporters have started to wait outside of her meets in an attempt to get a glimpse of her – and things got so out of hand at one meet that her and her teammates needed police escorts

She has amassed a net worth of $2.3 million thanks to thanks to her athletic abilities, as well as her many lucrative sponsorship deals

A video posted to Twitter by fellow gymnast Samantha Peszek showed the crowd of fans chanting Olivia’s name outside of the venue.

But her lack of competing hasn’t stopped her fans from showing up in droves to try to see her

Olivia (seen watching her team at their most recent match on January 13) has not been taking part in the team’s meets recently due to being hurt, but instead, she has been supporting her teammates from the sidelines

As Samantha exited, they started to heckle at her and aggressively scream things like, ‘Give us Livvy,’ and, ‘We want her,’ and ‘Where’s Livvy?’

‘When you leave the arena, but you’re not Livvy,’ she wrote in the video, adding in the caption, ‘This is actually so scary and disturbing and cringey. I’m embarrassed for them.’

It’s been said that officials were forced to move the Louisiana State University (LSU) team bus to avoid the rowdy crowd, while police were also called to help the athletes get to safety.

Afterwards, Olivia took to Twitter to beg her fans to be ‘respectful,’ writing, ‘I will always appreciate and love the support from you guys, but if you come to a meet, I want to ask you to please be respectful of the other gymnasts and the gymnastics community as we are just doing our job.’

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