Alysa Liu became the nation’s heartbeat after her gold-medal-winning free skate performance to Donna Summer’s “MacArthur Park” at the Milan Olympics. After all, her medal ended a 24-year drought for American women in the event. However, things recently took a turn for the worse. The Olympic Champion faced a rather terrifying moment, experiencing the dark side of fame.

As reported by E! News, the typically bubbly Olympic Champion shared a concerning fan incident she faced after landing at the airport in Oakland. This comes after she had been in New York City earlier this week, making appearances on national television, including the Today Show and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

“So I land at the airport & there’s a crowd waiting at the exit with cameras & things for me to sign. All up in my personal space. Someone chased me to my car bruh,” Liu revealed on her March 4 Instagram story.

She concluded it with a plea, “Please do not do that to me😭.”

Well, since her return from the Winter Olympics, Liu’s presence has been met with overwhelming positivity, but this incident is a true eye-opener.

She was formerly greeted at San Francisco International Airport by cheering crowds and gifts from airport staff, with Delta flight attendants announcing, “Ladies and gentlemen, today we welcome home a true champion after representing us with courage, dedication and excellence. Please join me in celebrating our gold medalist, Alysa Liu, who brought home the gold from the Olympic Games.”

Although this fame is very sudden for the 20-year-old Liu, her words show, she is fiercely protective of her privacy.

Before this stalker incident, a few weeks ago in February, Liu told E! News: “I want my life to stay as similar as possible every way and no one has thought that it would, but I’m really going to try to keep my peace because I like my life. I don’t want it to be too chaotic. I want it to stay calm and peaceful and chill. Honestly, I would say privacy. Privacy for sure. Privacy is a big one.”

Although many sports stars, from Olivia Dunne to Gabby Thomas have faced such terrifying airport encounters, but for Liu, this reality is especially new.

Since returning from Italy, her week’s been packed with media stops and a touch of star power. She’s appeared on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen and swung by the Today show, where she had a fan moment meeting Daniel Radcliffe. Then came a visit to the Lyceum Theatre to see Simu Liu and the cast of Oh, Mary! before capping it all off with a dazzling Teen Vogue cover.

As her fame soars, Liu says she’s still adjusting to her new reality. However, this isn’t the first time that her privacy boundary has been affected.

Alysa Liu and her father were targeted before the Beijing Olympics

Four years ago, in the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics, the then-16-year-old Alysa Liu found herself at the center of an even more disturbing breach of privacy.

In March 2022, just weeks after her Olympic debut, the Associated Press reported that the figure skater and her father, Arthur Liu, had been targeted by five individuals connected to a foreign spy operation.

Reports confirmed that these individuals were discovered surveilling the Liu family in the months before the Winter Games, and this is where her father came in with a stern mentality.

“This is her moment. This is her once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to compete at the Olympic Games. I’m not going to let them stop her from going and I’ll do whatever I can to make sure she’s safe and I’m willing to make sacrifices so she can enjoy the moment. I’m not going to let them win — to stop me — to silence me from expressing my opinions anywhere,” Alysa Liu’s father Arthur said.

“They are probably just trying to intimidate us, to… in a way threaten us not to say anything…I had concerns about her safety. The U.S. government did a good job protecting her.”

Even four years later, Liu finds herself pleading for personal space from the very fans who celebrate her. And this raises concern about other Olympians who have achieved a lot for their country, but probably at the cost of their privacy.