What happened to Gabby Douglas’s mother?

Gabby Douglas, a gymnast who was born on December 31, 1995 in Virginia Beach, Virginia, made history at the 2012 Olympic Games in London by becoming the first American to win both the team and individual all-around gold medals and the first African American to do so.

Douglas was raised in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where she began gymnastics training at the age of six. At the age of 14, she moved away from her family and into a host family in West Des Moines, Iowa. There, she began training with renowned coach Liang Chow. Douglas quickly gained recognition at national events; at the 2010 Nastia Liukin Supergirl Cup, she placed fourth in the all-around competition, and at the 2011 Visa Championships, she tied for third on the uneven bars and ended seventh overall.

What happened to Gabby Douglas’s mother?

RadarOnline.com has learnt that Natalie Hawkins, Douglas’s mother, filed for bankruptcy twice in their native Virginia just before the 20-year-old made his debut there in 2012.

The single mother of four claimed in U.S. District Court filings acquired exclusively by Radar that she was nearly $90,000 in debt and needed food stamps to sustain her family.
According to the petition from February 2010, Hawkins, 46, owing $8,909 in school loans, $74,485 in mortgage on the family’s Virginia Beach house, and numerous other thousands in medical and credit card debt. She also had just $1 in her checking account.

Hawkins made a pitiful living as a part-time collections specialist and also received $480 in food assistance and $1,600 in child support.