Who is Larry Nassar's ex-wife? Stephanie Nassar referred predator husband to one of his victims
The Tokyo Olympics has been mired in controversies, with many slamming the toxic culture surrounding athletic events. With Simone Biles' recent decision to pull out for mental health reasons being compared to Kerri Strug winning a gold medal with an injured ankle, social media has been abuzz over the pressure on athletes to perform for the audience's entertainment. But no discussion on the Olympics' toxicity is complete without the mention of Larry Nassar, the disgraced USA Gymnastics team doctor who molested and sexually abused hundreds of athletes including Biles and other minors for 18 years.
Nassar's name made a buzz on social media once again, when comparison between Biles and Strug sprung up. Social media hasn't been able to let go of Strug's impossible achievement at the 1996 Olympics, where she was forced to compete with an injured ankle, which later resulted in a broken leg. Strug accomplished the vault, but immediately collapsed in pain. In turn, coach Bela Karolyi picked up Strug and handed her onto Nassar's arms - a visual high on creepy quotient in the wake of over 250 people accusing the then-team doctor of sexual assaults. Nassar faced consequences for his actions - both legally and otherwise. His license was revoked, and his wife of two decades, Stephanie Nassar, divorcing him. Shockingly, one of Nassar's victims was referred to him by none other than a then clueless Stephanie.
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Who is Larry Nassar's ex wife?
Stephanie Nassar is not as well known considering she has been mostly kept away from the extensive media coverage and documentaries surrounding her ex-husband's crimes. But she didn't waste time in filing for divorce from her predator husband soon after allegations against him broke out. Stephanie married Nassar on October 19, 1996, at East Lansing's St John's Catholic Church. The Sun reports that at least two of the women who accused Nassar of sexual assault were present at the couple's wedding.
Stephanie, a licensed pediatric physician's assistant in Lansing, Michigan, went to school at the Michigan State University in 1992, and later graduated from the University of Detroit in 1999, with an MS from their Physician Assistant program. She filed for divorce from Nassar on January 25, 2017, just a year before an Ingham County judge sentenced the pedophile doctor to 40 to 175 years in prison for the sexual assault of minors.
Stephanie also shares two daughters and a son with Nassar, who is currently serving a 60-year prison sentence for child pornography and tampering with evidence charges at a federal prison near Orlando, Florida. Nassar had joined the USA Gymnastics team's medical staff in 1986, side-by-side running a clinic and gymnastics club at Michigan State University. Abusing his position for almost two decades, Nassar groped girls, often minors, during medical treatments - sometimes even in front of the girls' parents.
The allegations against Nassar, some made as early as the 90s, were finally taken into account in 2015 when USA Gymnastics cut ties with him and Michigan State fired him. Former athletes alleged that an abusive environment at national team training camps run by Béla and Márta Károlyi encouraged Nassar's abuse and subsequent cover ups that later became infamous as the USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal. Nassar was finally indicted on November 22, 2016 on several state charges of "sexual assault of a child" from 1998 to 2005 for the 265 young women he abused.
One of Nassar's accusers, Alaina Bamfield, claimed that it was upon his then-wife Stephanie's referral that she visited the pedophile doctor, and was then sexually assaulted by him. This has resulted in Stephanie's name registered in a federal lawsuit against Michigan State University. Nassar later also admitted to penetrating females with ungloved hands when they visited him for injuries among other abhorrent crimes that neither had any legitimate medical purpose, nor the girls' consent.
Nassar pled guilty to sexually assaulting 125 girls and women between 1998 and 2015. The child pornography conviction came after he was found with 37,000 photos pertaining to the charges, and was given an additional 40-125 years in jail for another three sex offenses. Nassar has a total of up to 360 years in jail. His ex-wife, Stephanie, was granted divorce within six months of her filing, and was also given sole custody of their three children. Neither Stephanie nor Nassar's children were present at his sentencing or hearing.