Millionaire gymnast Livvy Dunne admitted she once went to Paige Spiranac for extra help with her influencing skills.
Despite the fact she is still at college, the gymnast became a millionaire by the time she was 18, thanks to her fame on social media. After the National Collegiate Athletic ᴀssociation voted to lift name, image, and likeness restrictions on college athletes, which prevented athletes from gaining financial resources from internet fame, Dunne was able to team up with talent agency WME Sports and land her first lucrative sponsorship contract with sportswear brand Vurori.
She has earned more than $1m (around £803,000) thanks to her success on Tik Tok, where she boasts six million followers and on Instagram where she currently has a cool three million. However, when critics began to criticise Dunne’s social media side hustle, the New Jersey native turned to one person who knows exactly what it’s like to deal with keyboard critics.
“People always comment stuff that they would never say to your face, so part of it is just having developed tough skin,” Dunne said to Sports Illustrated, after being recently announced as one of their swimsuit models.
“Social media is hard. That’s something that Paige Spiranac helped me with, just keeping certain parts of your life private.
“Making sure not to post things that, you know, maybe you don’t want people’s feedback on.” She had to apply everything she learned from the former professional golfer after being criticised by Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer in a scathing article in the New York Times.
In an article тιтled ‘New Endorsements for College Athletes Resurface an Old Concern: Sєx Sells,’ VanDerveer described the kind of content Dunne and other female athletes and influencers post as “a step back” for female athletes. However, Dunne is not concerning herself with the opinions of other people.
“I think it’s important to stand up for yourself,” Dunne added. “Maybe it’s the Jersey girl in me, but I think girls needed to know it wasn’t O.K., especially posting things that any other college kid would post in – a leotard – which is the required uniform for being a gymnast. It’s ridiculous.”
While some may question Dunne’s career choices, the simple fact is that they have led her to the Swimsuit edition, something she described as “a dream come true”.