Ice dance champion Papadakis says she lost Olympic commentary role for NBC over dispute with ex-partner

Olympic ice dance champion Gabriella Papadakis says she lost her commentary role with NBC at the upcoming Winter Olympics because of her former skating partner's response to revelations in her new book.

In an interview with sports daily L'Equipe on Friday, the retired French skater said the decision was taken after Guillaume Cizeron publicly contested what she wrote in "So as Not to Disappear," released this week.

Cizeron asked his lawyers on Tuesday to formally put all parties involved on notice to cease the " dissemination of defamatory statements" about him.

"To my knowledge, in reaction to Guillaume filing a formal notice, which was made public, they [NBC] considered that the perception of my neutrality was compromised and that I could not commentate on the Olympic Games," Papadakis told L'Equipe.

"I'm not dealing with it very well, I've cried a lot. I was super disappointed because I was just beginning that career as a commentator."

The 30-year-old Papadakis, who retired in December 2024, said: "To lose the opportunity to start a new career is very difficult to take. I understand NBC's position but, yes, I'm experiencing a feeling of injustice."

In her book, Papadakis described suffering in a deeply unbalanced relationship with long-time ice dance partner Cizeron, with whom she broke the world record when claiming gold at the 2022 Beijing Games.

Papadakis wrote that, at a certain point, the idea of finding herself alone with him terrified her. She wrote about him being a "controlling" and "demanding" partner, and expressed a feeling of "being under his grip" at times.

In Friday's interview, she expanded further on their relationship.

"As long as I took a backseat role while Guillaume was the leader, everything went