After retiring from figure skating in December 2024, Gabriella Papadakis stepped into a new role as an NBC ice dance commentator in 2025. She was set to be one of the 82 personalities to commentate at the Milano Cortina Olympics, but just weeks before the Games, a legal dispute with her former partner led to NBC unexpectedly removing her from the role. Now, Papadakis has finally broken her silence on the situation.

“NBC made that decision because they were afraid of attacks from my former partner,” explained the reigning Olympic ice dance champion.

The controversy revolves around Papadakis’ recent memoir, Pour ne pas disparaître (So as Not to Disappear), which was released in French in mid-January. In the book, she openly talked about her life, her career, and her sometimes contentious ice dance partnership with Guillaume Cizeron.

Papadakis had described Cizeron as being “controlling” and “demanding” in the book and that she sometimes felt like she was “under his grip.” However, Cizeron and his lawyers have taken legal action to put a stop to the accusations, claiming that the descriptions of him in the book were false and defamatory.

“In the face of this smear campaign, I want to express my incomprehension and disagreement with the labels attributed to me,” said Cizeron. The fear of further controversy and Cizeron’s legal notice eventually forced NBC to pull Papadakis off the broadcast team just before the Milano Cortina Olympics begin.

“We respect Gabriella’s right to tell the story of her life and career. At the same time, her new book creates a clear conflict of interest,” said NBC. But Papadakis believes that the problem is bigger than a decision of a single network.

“The real problem is societal,” she said. “How is it that people who speak out about violence, who tell their stories, are penalized, rather than those who perpetrate the violence? That’s not something I blame on NBC. I think it’s a much bigger problem.”

She emphasized that her memoir was not intended as a personal attack but as a conversation about systemic issues in figure skating and elite sports. “I knew by writing this book, it would unfortunately affect my career. For people who speak out against systems of oppression, it never goes very well,” she added.

And for her, the cost was not abstract. It came at the exact moment she thought a new chapter was finally beginning after years of trauma.

Papadakis’ book discusses the sacrifices it took to reach the top ahead of Milano Cortina games

Gabriella Papadakis gave her entire life to figure skating. She first stepped on the ice at just three years old, and by the age of 9 or 10, she had formed a lifelong partnership with Guillaume Cizeron, guided by her mother, a skating coach.

Her hard work paid off as she won Olympic silver in 2018, Olympic gold in 2022, five world championships, five European championships, and 34 world records. But still, she wasn’t happy.

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While achieving success, Papadakis experienced depression, burnout, and lost self-esteem. Prior to the 2019 World Champs, she found herself pregnant but terminated the pregnancy for the sake of her career. However, she struggled with depression during the preceding 2019-20 season following the decision.

After narrowly losing out on Olympic gold in 2018 by 0.79 points, Papadakis was determined to not let history repeat itself four years later in Beijing. Sometimes, as she revealed, to her own detriment.

“Throughout my career, I kept telling myself, ‘I won’t give up until I get that medal.’ That’s what kept me going. But at the same time, it made me accept things that were unacceptable,” she said.

“But I had my passion for skating, my personal ambitions, and my desire to succeed,” continued Papadakis. “Even if I wasn’t aware of everything, I told myself, “I don’t want to let my traumas win and take over.”

Gabriella Papadakis may have been relieved of her commentating duties at the Milano Cortina games, but after two decades of dedication, pain, and triumph, she’s finally telling her story on her own terms.