Laurie Hernandez Finds Her Voice In Pride — And On Broadway

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - AUGUST 09: Lauren Hernandez of the United States competes on the floor during the Artistic Gymnastics Women's Team Final on Day 4 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Rio Olympic Arena on August 9, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

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You probably know her as the ‘Human Emoji’: the vivacious, bubbly teenager who helped the U.S. women’s gymnastics team to gold at the 2016 Olympics.

It was her first year as a senior elite gymnast, but that didn’t matter. Laurie Hernandez came away from her first Olympics with gold in the team and silver on the balance beam.

In Rio, she was everything the world wanted her to be: successful, smiling, and effortlessly composed. Her dazzling performances brought home gold for the stars and stripes, all while capturing the hearts of fans worldwide.

After Rio de Janeiro, Laurie’s stardom only intensified. The 16-year-old won "Dancing With the Stars." She wrote her own book. Two years later, she wrote another. She secured a major broadcast deal to commentate for NBC at the Olympic Games.

By her late teens, the kid from New Brunswick, New Jersey, had already accomplished more than most do in a lifetime. But across her life-altering experiences and medal-winning performances, Laurie knew something: somehow, some way, she was different.

“It felt so costume-like to put my leotard on and my makeup on,” she tells me. “I was sort of copying everyone around me, not because I was actually sure what I liked or what I didn’t like.” A few years after winning gold in Rio, she realized why she felt different: she was queer.

While training for an Olympic roster spot, she had no time to ruminate over her identity. “It just felt like I had to squeeze that part out of me. I didn't think about it. I didn't want to think about it," she recalls.

For years, gymnastics was her identity. Since retiring, she has begun reclaiming her own. In 2026, that ownership took on a new stage: Broadway.

Balance Beam To Broadway

In spring 2026, Hernandez made her Broadway debut in the ensemble cast of “& Juliet,” performing as Charmion. On 42nd Street, she found a different kind of team and a different kind of performance pressure: one that came with community instead of isolation.

Whether mounting the beam in Brazil or taking the stage in Manhattan, the nerves remained. “The body remembers,” she laughs. “I could not differentiate between, ‘am I about to go compete for the Olympics or am I allowed to go on stage?’”

The former elite athlete felt she was in elite company. "Everyone who’s on Broadway is absolutely considered an athlete,” she insists. “This is really intense. I’ve definitely been having to tap into my warm-up and cool-down routines that I would do while I was training."

Though Hernandez tells me she “wanted to throw up” during her “& Juliet” debut, like her Olympic medal-winning routines, she found her groove after finding joy in the performance.

“[Now] I get excited. It’s very easy to find that excitement and to find ways to connect with the audience and to truly want that as well,” she smiles. The excitement is mutual – her initially short stint was extended through July 12.

Though the nerves underscored both Broadway and gymnastics, the support systems starkly contrasted. While Hernandez says she enjoyed close friendships with gymnastics teammates over the years, the “sustained support” of the theatre community has been life-altering.

“For the last three months, I've just had just like a group of women who are so ready to go up and be there [for me],” she beams, shaking her head with gratitude.

She describes herself like a crumb amid the swarming seagulls in “Finding Nemo.” "‘My, my, my,’" she yells. "Everyone's turning, ready to support, ready to laugh…that's something that I've never experienced before.”

The Power Of Choice

With each passing day, Hernandez herself feels more seen and – if possible – more accomplished. The 26-year-old graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Arts this spring, an accomplishment she describes with perhaps even more pride than the Olympic medals she won for Team USA.

“It doesn’t feel as flashy” as Olympic gold, she tells me. “But it feels like mine.” After a decade of prescribed gymnastics training and competitive regimens, Hernandez took the driver’s seat to pave her own path: picking her school, her major, and her classes.

The process required overcoming significant self-doubt. Exclusively homeschooled through high school and applying to colleges as a 22-year-old, Hernandez had no perception of her academic potential. “I’m not aware of how smart or how dumb I actually am. What if I get to college and I suck at this?” she wondered.

Upon entering NYU’s prestigious program, Hernandez was four years older than most of her freshman classmates. By spring 2026, that didn’t matter. "By the time graduation came, I'm like, ‘oh, we're all here as the same person, we're all transitioning into something very new.’”

Had Hernandez gone straight to college after the 2016 Olympic Games, she insists she wouldn’t be where she is today. After becoming a household name at age 16, she needed a strategic pause to “write her script.” That storyline included Olympic gold, “Dancing With the Stars,” an Olympic comeback, NBC commentary, and countless professional opportunities in between.

"I had no idea what to do next with my life,” she says, reflecting on the post-Rio onslaught. But by the time she applied to NYU Tisch, enough of her chapters had been written. “By the time I got [to NYU], I knew what I wanted to do.”

While finding her purpose post-Rio, she also found something – someone – else.

Finding Pride And Joy

Hernandez met her girlfriend, Charlotte Drury, while training for the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games. Drury, a trampoline athlete for Team USA, finished as an alternate for the Tokyo team while Hernandez’s comeback bid ended due to a knee injury.

As elite athletes for Team USA, both Hernandez and Drury understood the pressure cooker that produced Olympic aspirations. They also understood what it meant to feel different in a sport that prioritizes perfection and rewards conformity. While Drury trained in Tokyo and Hernandez made her commentary debut for NBC, their relationship blossomed.

On June 29, 2026, Hernandez publicly shared her relationship – and, for the first time, her queer identity.

“We are soft, and patient… our workouts mostly involve belly laughs and carrying our chairs to the park… and bouncing on the occasional trampoline." As Hernandez tells me about Drury and their relationship, she exudes pride in every way.

However, in a political climate where LGBTQ rights remain under pressure, expressions of pride have become increasingly political.

2026 U.S. Olympic figure skater Amber Glenn, the first openly queer female skater in U.S. Figure Skating history, faced a barrage of online vitriol after vocalizing her support for queer communities during a press conference. As a fellow Olympian and queer athlete, Glenn’s bravery deeply resonated with Hernandez.

"The entire figure skating team, especially this year, has set the tone for how you participate and watch in sports,” Hernandez reflects. “I just hope that Amber [Glenn] is feeling a lot more support than the hate that can come with being yourself.”

Choosing Pride In 2026

In 2026, Hernandez is choosing pride in more ways than one: as a performer, a former athlete, a graduate, and a partner. "At some point, I was the only one in the world who knew such a secret about myself: that I was queer,” she wrote.

Now, she declares: “I am queer."

While the sociopolitical climate remains uncertain, Hernandez’s perspective is anything but. With Drury – whom she affectionately calls ‘Charlie’ – she’s found joy in a person and relationship she once didn’t realize she needed. Hernandez describes the act of simply “being able to have a partner” as a “really crazy feeling.”

“I hope everyone gets to feel that at some point,” she says.

From Olympic gold to mirrorball trophies and a Tisch diploma, there was no “script” for Laurie Hernandez’s life. So, after significant introspection, she took to writing one. Though Hernandez has long adored performing, she now performs with a village of support behind her. “It’s been a long time coming,” she says, reflecting on her winding journey to the creative arts.

Her dream role is Orpheus in “Hadestown,” but above all, Hernandez hopes to tell “stories that can help inspire people to do incredible things, or at the very least just make someone feel like they’re seen.”

For the first time, she isn’t performing who the world expects her to be – just who she is. And for now, she’s simply proud.