Olympian Shawn Johnson East opens up about motherhood, social media fame and life in Nashville
Glaring lights beamed on a Beijing morning as then-16-year-old Shawn Johnson East stepped onto the National Indoor Stadium's powder blue mat and saluted to a panel of Olympic gymnastics judges before performing the floor exercise.
The West Des Moines, Iowa, native and world champion was the closing competitor in the last rotation of the hotly contested 2008 Olympics all-around final as she twisted and tumbled on the floor to music from 2007's "August Rush" movie soundtrack.
At the end, Johnson East posed on the mat following a clean routine and then leaped into American sports history books: She won a silver medal and became a member of the first duo of U.S. women alongside teammate Nastia Liukin to lead the event one-two as the best in the world.
Later, she clinched gold in the Games on the balance beam in the event finals after nailing a set on the chalk-dusted apparatus and left China with four medals in total.
Following the Olympics, Johnson East competed twice on "Dancing with the Stars” and won the Mirrorball trophy once, appeared before pre-presidency Donald Trump in the “Celebrity Apprentice" boardroom, and started post-gymnastics life with ex-NFL player and now-husband Andrew East in Middle Tennessee.
“It was only part of me and trying to teach the world that, it was very hard for both of us to be like, ‘No, we actually have more qualities other than being a football player and a gymnast,'" Johnson East, 31, said.
In recent years, Johnson East ditched crystal-encrusted leotards for diaper boxes as a mom of two, led a low-key life in Nashville, Tennessee, and garnered more than 5.5 million followers on Instagram and TikTok.
“We obviously had very strong passions for football and gymnastics but even as a little kid, it was never my everything,” she said. “My parents (Teri and Doug) really raised me to have more interests and not identify as just a gymnast."
The Olympic gold medalist and East opened up about the duo's decade-long love story, making the most of their shared social media fame, and handling parenthood with their two children, 3-year-old Drew and Jett, who is 1.
How the East family grew their social media empire
On a breezy mid-30-degree January day in Nashville, Johnson East and East, her partner in life and business, hopped onto a Zoom call to discuss their lives after she left Iowa — and the sport of gymnastics — largely behind.
Donning a white Avengers crewneck sweatshirt in the duo's airy home, Johnson East described the couple's calendar — dotted with appearances, interviews and meetings — while raising two toddlers and managing a lively content creation schedule for their growing social media empire.
"It's definitely difficult to work having kids, but we both find a lot of passion and enjoyment in working," Johnson East said. "So, I feel like it makes us better parents being able to do what we love and then come home and be with our babies."
Johnson East pursued a path away from Olympics commentating for NBC unlike some of her 2008 teammates and said she and East spend about four to five hours per day filming content. She called their busy schedule "absolutely chaotic but so much fun."
The pair has amassed 7 million followers combined on Instagram and TikTok while documenting their lives as working parents by posting goofy videos that align with online trends. On YouTube, the East Family's official channel has nearly 1.5 million subscribers. There, they give followers a behind-the-scenes look at their struggles and successes in work and marriage.
The former athletes (East played collegiate football at Vanderbilt University and then in the NFL as a long snapper, most recently for the Washington Commanders) are well-known for their own personal brand of positive family-friendly content: A February video of the two sliding across wood floors in their home, like actor Tom Cruise in "Risky Business," before doing a series of dance moves, racked up nearly 580,000 views and around 41,000 likes on TikTok.
A shared post from the duo's Instagram pages received 4 million views and more than 140,000 likes. The video captioned, "you're a legend @shawnjohnson," included some of the recognition Johnson East received — such as her image on a Cheerios box and a McDonald's bag, and a signed letter from former President George W. Bush — in contrast to East's 2022 amateur ping-pong championship belt.
Recent Instagram Reels on Johnson East's profile — including an ultra-viral video about East noticing Johnson East's "social battery" depletion that raced to more than 600,000 likes — have accrued anywhere from nearly 700,000 to more than 10 million views on the app.
Former athletes play a new sport: podcasting about relationship realness
The couple launched a new venture in 2022 dubbed FamilyMade, a media company that captures all things family through conversations and sharable content.
Johnson East said the company allows the couple to share happy, real moments in the lives of other families instead of expanding the East family brand to a reality TV show or social media channels.
Speaking of reality television, Johnson East and Andrew will not be cast members on any possible "Real Housewives of Nashville" franchise, but the pair said they could make a potential appearance as contestants on the CBS competition series "The Amazing Race."
“We would love to do 'Amazing Race.' That is on our bucket list,” Johnson East said. “We have had to say no to it in the past because of babies, which has been so hard, but hopefully they come back and ask us to be on another season.”
FamilyMade also has a podcast network with around 10 shows, which includes their hit series "Couple Things with Shawn and Andrew."
The conversational show features raw moments the co-hosts have experienced in their marriage and talks with other couples such as author Glennon Doyle and soccer star Abby Wambach, former NFL player Tim Tebow and his wife, Demi, and "Duck Dynasty" heiress Sadie Robertson and her husband, Christian Huff.
“It’s made us appreciate that the internet can start meaningful conversations and make a meaningful impact,” East said. “That’s how we view all of our content or whatever we put out there: How can we start an interesting conversation between a couple or between families and add a layer of intentionality or thought as they go through this process?”
The "Winning Balance" author and her "American Ninja Warrior" alum husband discuss their own disagreements, struggles, and relationship realness in episodes of the podcast.
“With us, we just thought, ‘Every relationship looks different, feels different, goes through different things,’” Johnson East said. “And people need more content like that and need to hear more voices like that in order to relate to feel like they're not isolated, and they can work through a relationship.”
East, who is also 31, said the goal of the podcast is to help listeners feel less alone and isolated during arguments. He added that curbing isolation is the main benefit of using social media as a platform, despite potential downsides.
“What’s so amazing about it is it really does make people feel less alone because you can connect to whatever community you are a part of,” East said.
'Iowa’s home. It’s always home'
Last June, the family returned to the Hawkeye state and brought their daughter, Drew, who is 3, to see Johnson East's former training gym, Chow's Gymnastics & Dance, and Olympic coach Liang Chow.
Even though she has chosen to raise her family in Tennessee, Iowa will always hold a special place for the state's golden girl.
“Iowa’s home. It’s always home,” Johnson East said. “I will say something that’s funny about Iowa is whenever Iowa people run into Iowa people outside of Iowa, it’s like we are bonded together.”
East, who was raised in Indianapolis, said he feels a connection when he meets people in Nashville who are originally from his spouse’s home state and called the Iowa-to-Tennessee pipeline "awesome."
“It’s something really special, to be honest. I feel like I’ve been somewhat adopted into it and every time I see an Iowa Hawkeye emblem, I’ll give them a fist pump,” East said. "Or when I see a Cyclone, there’s quite a few Iowans down here in Nashville, I’ll give them some friendly trash talk.
Johnson East's parents, Teri and Doug, moved to Nashville after the pair had children, but the family still returns to the Des Moines metro area about three to four times a year.
The East family enjoys stopping at Hy-Vee supermarkets, a promotional partner over the years with Johnson East, when they return to Iowa. They try to visit Iowa during summertime for the State Fair, she said.
“Nashville is great in many ways, but there’s no place like Des Moines. We love it up there,” East said.
Jay Stahl is an entertainment reporter at The Des Moines Register. Follow him on Instagram or reach out at jstahl@gannett.com.