Aly Raisman: Thirty, Single & Thriving (FBF)

Call Her Daddy

Aly Raisman opens up about her life at 30, her Olympic journey, and her thoughts on dating, identity, and societal pressures. The conversation blends humor, vulnerability, and insight on fame, womanhood, and self-worth.

Key takeaways

• Gymnastics shaped her identity but also brought isolation
• She values authenticity over accolades
• Dating at 30 brings pressure, not desperation

Transcript preview

What is up daddy gang it is your founding father Alex Cooper with call her daddy? Ali Raisman welcome to call her daddy. Thank you so much for having me. I am so happy that we're doing this. I'm such a huge fan. I've been a huge fan for a while to be able to like sit here in person with you. It's an honor. So thank you for being here. I am such a big fan of you too and I think we have the same name. Is your legal name? Me too. My God. Should we call each other Alexandra? Should we go by Alexandra today? Yeah, nobody calls me Alexandra in interviews. Oh my God, I wonder like how did you get Ali and how did I get Alex like who where did you? Oh. Okay. So first of all I'm a very big fan of you too. Congratulations on everything. It's amazing. Love listening your podcast. I so my legal name is Alexandra. Right. And really no one calls me that when I was little. I used to actually be called sexy Lexilexi, which is probably weird. years old everyone called me sexy Lexi I don't know why okay alley I didn't know what sexy meant but everyone called me sexy in kindergarten like even like some of the moms around me too they still call me that to this day and then when I was like a couple years later I thought my real name was Alexander and I asked my mom one day and she said it was Alexander and I felt like I had been lied to you my whole life because I was a very dramatic kid so then I went by Alexander for a little bit and then I actually don't remember But I love when my childhood friends call me Lexi because I just like they knew me before everything I was about to say I thought you were to say I love when my childhood friends call me sexy like me sexy like I'm like yeah I wish my childhood friends would call me sexy Lexi they call me big al like you got sexy Lexi and I got big al from Alexandra like make it make sense I love that for you I don't know where it came from but I was five years old and it's funny because some of my guy friends that's funny What the fuck is about? But my girlfriend's due from childhood, it's funny. But now that I look back, I'm like, imagine hearing someone call a five-year-old, sexy, Lexi, it's so weird. Oh my God, you were exuding, just like, call me. I didn't know. I had no idea what it was. Okay, well today we're both Alexandra. Yes. So I read your article. So I read your article and I read your article and I'm going to fall in love and talk about it today. to be in your life at that point. So there is a lot to discuss today about timelines, comparison, just how hard it is to date in general. But before we get into that, because the daddy gang is going to freak out over that conversation, that's literally all we talk about over here, okay? We need to talk about the Olympics. You are going to the Olympics this year? Yes. I am going to the Olympics this year. We will be hanging out. I can't wait. What are you most excited for about Paris? I am so excited. It's my first time going, I'm really know what to expect but I'm so excited and I'm obviously the most excited to watch the gymnastics and I got to go to Olympic trials last week and it was so fun and it was it's so emotional watching everyone and I know everyone worked so hard so I am a huge fan of gymnastics too and I grew up just being obsessed with it and watching it and so I love watching incredible athletes from all over the world too and I think that's what's so cool about the Olympics is obviously I'm for the US team and I think that they look so good and I'm so impressed with them but I also love how as an eight year old you know one of my favorite gymnast was a Ukrainian gymnast and so I just feel like what's so cool is the whole world comes together and you just really appreciate just greatness and such incredible athleticism so I'm so excited and then I also want to go to like my brother is coming and he wants to go to ping pong finals I'm like that would be so cool we go together I would love to I'm like ping pong and then like ping pong and then also is a sport officially in the Olympics this year I'm like I will be there my favorite movie growing up was step up maybe Channing Tatum hit me up we can go watch together he's like absolutely not there are so many random things that I want to go see fencing okay we'll go together um you started gymnastics when you were two is this like you think about that I'm like how do you like two years old and you're starting gymnastics and like two years old and you're starting gymnastics and like being an athlete I feel like that just becomes so much of your identity from such a young age right but overall we're going back to the beginning like I love to do here on Call or Daddy because it really paints the picture of who someone is like how would you describe your personality when you were growing up that's a good question aside from sexy Lexi I've never been asked that I think that well I was obsessed with gymnastics I loved it more than anything else in the world I just always wanted to be there I'm the oldest So I loved being a big sister. I still do, but I'm two years older than my brother Brett and then six years older than Chloe and eight years older than Madison. So I felt like I was like I was like I just like loved being the big sister and I remember you know those little like cars the little mini ones that like kids drive around I just like would pretend I was like the mom and taking them around the driveway like I just loved being a big sister and they used to sleep in bed with me every night which is just so cute. Yeah, and I just I have so many great memories of that and then I just loved I used to beg my coaches to let me stay later at practice and actually thankfully they wouldn't let me because they didn't want me to burn out but I was so sad to leave the gym I was obsessed Like I remember I would miss Halloween even at a young age because I wanted to be at the gym I was just like so driven I think you have to be like born with something a little bit extra crazy and you to be that intense but I loved it I can I can see I can see I can see I can see you being the oldest probably shaped a lot of them like your relationships in gymnastics because it's like you have this like maternal feeling about you what was your relationship like to your parents I'm very close with my parents I still am so very grateful for that because the older I've got I've realized a lot of people don't have good relationships with their family so I didn't realize when I was younger just how lucky I am for that and I also appreciate how to me or practice they didn't get mad at me and they were even more I think loving and supporting when I didn't do as well and if they weren't supportive I would have never survived like I had teammates when I was younger that were actually better than me but because their parents put so much pressure on them they just couldn't do it I don't blame them I wouldn't have been able to do it because we're already I think our own worst critic and then our coaches are hard on us and then you go home and your parents are on you it's just so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so I'm so glad like I playing soccer growing up had the same vibe with my parents where it was like they were so supportive of course if I like asked them like what I could have done better at like my mom was like oh I got you like I was watching but she's not I'm not getting in the car with a pit in my stomach that I'm gonna get yelled at and I knew a lot of my friends had those parents that were like the dad was yelling in the car like screaming screaming like you've seen the parents that like insane shit that you're like who you're like whoa I can't imagine not time job and we're talking about being like seven eight nine ten year old girls and it's like it's not that deep it is and eventually became your like life but it's also like you have to have balance in order in my opinion to survive and to go the distance or else you just burn out I completely agree and I think that it also maybe without the parents realizing it's I think it teaches the kid that your only value is being a good athlete or being very successful and I think it also So many athletes struggle with their worth being wrapped up in how they do in the sport and I know a lot of athletes struggle without it even for the Olympics this summer so many athletes if they do really well they might not know who they are outside of their sport because that's what they've been doing their entire life and then if they don't do well I think it's really hard if you don't have the support or the sort of like mental preparation if you don't do well to know that you're more than just your result and like everyone is human is human it's really I think accept that so I always feel for athletes when I'm watching like I get nervous even when I don't know people or even when I see a gymnast from another country like of course I want everyone to do well and obviously again rooting for the US team but even if I see a gymnast from another country like not do well I just feel so sad for them because it you put so much into it and I think so many athletes they're worth is wrapped up and their result. It is very intense and I'm curious though. to stay at the gym and you loved all these people. Like you decided to go to public school for high school and I feel like really intense athletes is specifically in gymnastics. They usually get homeschooled. How did you make that decision? Thankfully my coaches and my parents were really wanted me to stay in public school and I'm actually really glad that they did. I mean everyone's on their own path and into your point a lot of my teammates were homeschooled and so I feel like everyone has a different journey of what works for them. But for them, but for me it was, important that I could go to school and have that balance and I can remember I would train six days a week four to seven hours every other day except Sunday I was off but then 2016 when I was done with high school I would sometimes go on Sunday on my day off so I was I'm still exhausted I'm still exhausted from it sometimes people when I tell them out they're like that's not bad I'm like yeah it is it was bad it was bad it was really exhausting I'm like you after. But I can remember I would train in the morning and I would then like literally be like covered in chalk and like go right to school like I was so self-conscious because I'd like be like trying to like wash my body like really quickly go to school trying to look cute for boys I was so uncomfortable high school is also so hard I was so so so so insecure and then I would go to class and then I would quickly do my homework after school and then go back to the gym after it was just so I was just so I was so I was so I was just so I was so I was so I was so I was so I was so I was so I was so I was so I was so I was so I was so I was so driven and so like none of my friends understood I think how serious I was about it like when I competed in 2012 at the Olympics it was right after I graduated high school and I remember my high school friends were like you never told us you were like that good and I was like well I don't know what do you I'm like I don't know I didn't want to say anything but also like what did you guys think I was doing I'm like bad at this thing but I just get up every morning and go every afternoon and I just keep out it like oh my god it's funny one of my family members I admitted to my mom he's like I have to admit I always thought that he said to my mom that you and my dad were crazy because he's like I would he was like I would just watch you like drive alley to practice over and over again and I just thought it was so odd because I would you know miss a lot of days of school I was you know like traveling all over the place and he was like I didn't understand how good she was so he's like it took me a really long time and he was like I kind of judge you and now We, okay, hold on, no one knew how good you were. That's kind of interesting because why? I still, it's funny when people ask me about gymnastics in my career, like in normal life, like if people don't know who I am they're like, were you good? I'm like, I was fine. I don't know, I just like, it's just not something that, I don't know. Like, metals on metals and you're sitting, like, I think I was okay. I don't know. I don't know. I'm like, it's so I think part maybe some of it is that if it's someone doesn't know who I am then I'm kind of I'm like excited because I'm like oh they really like me for me there's something about it where like there's no it makes me feel so good if I'm out somewhere and like a guy is interested in me and they don't know who I am because it just makes me feel like oh they like me for me and so I think it's that and I feel more connected to them it's not to say if someone does know you you know you know you know you know you know you can you can you can you can you can you can you can you can you can you can you can you can you can you can you can you can you can you can you can you can you can you can you can you can you can you can't you can't you can't you can you can you can you can't you can't you can't you can't you can't you can't you can't you can't you can't you can't you can you can't you when you know why someone's sort of talking to you but I think it maybe I feel very guarded but then also I think gymnastics I have such an interesting complicated relationship with it that I feel like sometimes I don't love talking about it in my personal time all the time but I'm doing a lot of therapy to work on that no I get it and I think being a woman like we just learn it's not even about the sport it's just about how we are we just learn in life like never be to confident because it will come off as cocky and like don't talk about your accolades because now you're just like drawing attention to yourself and like that's just like what being a woman is like and it's like I'll brag for you. You're amazing. So you did you like flourish with like friends in high school though it sounds like you had like a lot of friends? I had friends I do feel like because I was gone a lot I felt like I missed out a lot at the time because I had a lot. I can remember if I was away for a weekend at a competition. I'd come back on Monday and then I'd hear everyone talking about the fun weekend and everything happening and so I feel like I can remember feeling left out a lot just because I or FOMO maybe is the better word but I felt like I had everyone was very nice to me in high school and I had a good experience in high school my friends were very supportive I felt like people were very nice to me and so but I just I was feeling kind of like I was missing out on stuff and it was hard coming back and hearing everyone talking about how fun stuff was and I remember being very insecure like I just didn't think that any guy in high school thought I was cute which makes me so sad when I look back and so I just remember you know any little thing that was wrong I just felt like everyone was looking at it or everyone was noticing it but in gymnastics it's a subjective sport so I was taught from a young age that like every little thing is picked apart And it's actually really hard for me in life now to realize that people aren't looking at me like that like no one cares. So it's a it was very interesting but in the moment I was so in the thick of always kind of being critiqued all the time that I thought other people thought of me that way. Can you talk a little bit more about that of like in securities in high school and it's crazy to even talk about high school because it's like in gymnastics world like that is when most women are like really girls I literally girls I literally girls are coming into their you're so young like what insecurities when you're talking about boys versus then what you're working towards on like in the gym like what were the insecurities for you personally yeah it's really interesting so I when I was younger I used to get made fun of all the time for how muscular my arms were and I remember when I was in fifth grade the boys would make fun of me and told me it looked like I was on steroids and they would call me roids and it made me so sad and this has affected me so much and this has affected me so much that at 30 years old I have just started to be able to wear like sleeveless or tank dresses and it makes me so sad that I wasted that much time but it's really incredible how I guess incredible in a bad way how when people make fun of you how it can really stay with you and then I remember in seventh grade so vividly I was wearing a tank top and some guy told me that I looked disgusting and some of my arms were disgusting and so I literally actually this was a big moment for me at Olympic trials last week last week I wore a dress that I wore a dress that I was like this is like such a big deal for me that I'm doing this because I would have been so self-conscious and worried and now I'm just trying it feels so freeing to just try not to worry as much but it's just so I think that like as I do more therapy it's amazing how much stuff sticks with us and I think that's also why I have anxiety or social anxiety because I'm like I hope I've never said something that would ever stick with someone I would feel so bad and I know Sometimes we're all human, we all say things, sometimes we don't mean or we don't even realize someone interpreted in a different way, but I think I'm like so afraid of making someone feel the way that other people made me feel that I'm almost like too hyper aware. But so that was a really big one. I think I was always self-conscious of like my body because in gymnastics they were so strict with my weight and even though we worked out so much I still had to watch what I ate a lot. I also want to. I also want to be careful. I also this because I know how many people struggle with body dysmorphia and eating disorders so I think it's so important no matter what sport you're in to fuel your body and eat a lot of food and I wish I could go back and tell myself to eat warm and feel my body but I just felt so much pressure to always be skinnier and skinnier and it was so unhealthy because I was already working out so much and it's crazy for me to look back at photos of myself where I was being told to lose more weight and I'm like I was like I was like I was didn't have an ounce of fat on me. It's just I this is for any of people that are athletes and I'm obviously not a medical expert so don't quote me on these exact numbers but I do believe that women are supposed to have a higher body fat percentage than men and I remember going into 2016 Olympics I was very very thin just from the pressure in the sport to be a certain weight and I was 22 years old so I was kind of like fighting with like becoming and I remember the person who was taking my body fat they had said that I remember when I did it so go back actually when I was 16 I had someone else do my body fat and they were saying that they'd never seen someone under 12% and they had said like women should be like 18 or 20% I don't know how accurate the 18 to 20% so he was like so you're probably gonna be maybe around 12 and I remember I was at like 8% and at the time I was and he was like really concerned about it he's like you're way too low that's and I was 16 and then when I was 22 about to leave for the Rio Olympics I remember my body fat was at 5% and I remember the person who works with NFL players was like I he was like this is not okay like you can get seriously hurt and this is this is terrible he's like I've never seen he's like even the guys sometimes being this low he's like you're lower than some of the men on the team And I remember I was like I just need you to there's nothing I can do about it because like this is what the judges and the coaches like need for me I was like I just need you to be supportive and tell me it's gonna be okay he's like I can't like he's like this is so dangerous for you and I actually feel like my body has never recovered from being that thin and like fighting against that so it's very it's very interesting because I can remember I would still eat and feel my body but at the same time there was this like I can there was so much pressure I can remember like this is so gross now I'm like I've become more of a germaphobe as I've gotten older but this is so gross but it just like desperate times call for desperate measures like I remember times like literally because there was so much pressure to be thin I had to be careful what I ate in front of you know people on on the staff and I remember like I would go into like the airport in the plane bathroom which is disgusting and like eat a power bar where that is just like so gross to me now but when you're so hungry it doesn't even seem gross but it was just so I remember like I would try to eat but there was so much pressure to be thin that it just was very very hard so I was very insecure about that in high school of course because I thought oh well the guys think that I'm big too so that's why they're not interested in me no and alley like it's not gross it's so sad like that my heart breaks for you that you had to go into that and to like eat in secrecy because of the coaches and like the mentality and the rules and the strictness and like even thinking of like that doctor saying that to you of like wait you're 5% like do you think you were numb at that