Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test alum Shawn Johnson recalls being “obsessed with perfection”

Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test alum Shawn Johnson recently opened up about her deepest feelings in an upcoming episode. The former Olympic gymnast revealed in an upcoming episode of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test about how she had earlier struggled to show her emotions. 

Shawn Johnson also shared how she has been "obsessed with perfection". The athlete explored how the only emotion she could ever show was a smile, but if “you did that while lined up, you were no longer on the National team.”

The retired gymnast explained how being able to shut off all emotion was something that she became rather habitual to, but later realised that it is seemingly problematic for “competing in the gruelling training exercises.”

Johnson recalled how having such focus led to depression and obsessive past eating disorders, as she admitted, 

“I lost my identity for a long time.”

Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test alum Shawn Johnson recalls being called “worthless”

In an upcoming episode, Shawn Johnson is seen telling the Directing Staff why she struggles with emotions and recalls an incident that occurred to her in the past. Johnson said, 

“My entire career was fear-based; I had a lot of people very high up telling me that I was worthless and not wanting to see me succeed in gymnastics, who controlled my fate and if I showed emotion I was cut. I think that was part of the reason why I was scared going into this, [I] was like what would that bring out in me?”

Shawn Johnson revealed how she developed eating disorders and was struggling to the point where she felt like her body was shutting down. In an interview with People Magazine, the DWTS alum said, 

“As a 12-year-old, the only way I really understood how to achieve that [body] was to eat less and restrict myself. I remember kind of obsessing over it, I went as far as literally not eating any carbs. I wouldn’t allow myself to eat a single noodle of soup. It got to the point where my body was like, shutting down.”

Shawn Johnson explains how Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test strengthened her marriage 

In an interview with USA Today, Shawn Johnson explained how the show strengthened her marriage, just because they got to do something surreal together. 

The former Olympic gymnast further pointed out how they both got to see each other “struggle and kind of persevere and go through a bunch of really hard things individually."

Shawn Johnson revealed that she was offered to do the show in the very first season. However, this time it was suggested that Shawn and Andrew both participate in the show.

“We love a physical challenge," she says. "We love a mental challenge. We always want to see how far we can push ourselves. It was kind of a challenge to ourselves to see how we can showcase our marriage and the love of that and see how well we can do on this crazy show."

Watch Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test airing on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET exclusively on Fox. Stay tuned for more updates.