In a story that seems to keep getting worse and worse, this is not welcome news. U.S. Olympic Gymnast and 2012 Gold Medalist McKayla Maroney initially denied the authenticity of the leaked nude photos of her yesterday claiming they there fakes:

https://twitter.com/McKaylaMaroney/status/506356524915388416

But today, Maroney has come out saying that the nude photographs were taken when she was under 18. According to TMZ, Maroney has had several of her attorneys reach out to various porn sites, including Porn.com, informing them that McKayla was underage in the photos and also that she owned the copyright on all hacked photos. Porn.com responded by removing all the images in question from their site. Although this does not prove that the images are 100% authentic or are completely of McKayla, it could indicate that at least part of the images are actually of the gymnast. Popular site Reddit isn’t taking any chances with the photos in question either. The site sent out a message to all its users that stated:

Effective immediately: any images/galleries/torrents/megadumps/etc containing McKayla Maroney or Liz Lee will be immediately due to the fact that they were underage (<18) in the photos taken.

Reddit was sure to make clear that the images in question of Liz Lee were “not part of the leaks, but people have been posting her images anyways. Liz’s pictures were taken in 2007 when she was 16-years-old by an ex of hers.”

Through all of this Maroney has had the support of her 2012 teammates who tweeted their support:

This scandal is not a joke and it is upsetting that an invasion of privacy results in entertainment for some.

— Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) September 1, 2014

Please respect the fact that the photos were private and not for the whole world to see. My heart is broken for the women who were violated.

— Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) September 1, 2014

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Every person is entitled to their own privacy. I am saddened that something like this has happened and I hope it never happens again.

— Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) September 1, 2014

@mckaylamaroney Love ya girl. #WeAreStrong #Champions pic.twitter.com/aZC29G9MlJ

— Gabby Douglas (@gabrielledoug) September 2, 2014

The investigation into the photo hack is an ongoing joint effort between Apple and the FBI since the hacked photos were stolen from the stars’ iCloud accounts.

Be sure to check back with PopWrapped as this story continues to develop.

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