Bode Miller Defends Reporter Who Made Him Cry: 'I Know She Didn't Mean to Push'
United States Olympic medalist Bode Miller has spoken out in defense of the reporter who made him cry during a recent interview. Miller defended NBC's Christin Cooper, who brought the bronze-medalist to tears after his win.
"Bode, you're showing so much emotion down here. What's going through your mind?" Cooper asked.
"A lot, obviously," Miller replied. "A long struggle coming in here. And, uh, just a tough year."
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It has been a "tough" year for the competitor, who lost his brother, Chelone "Chilly," to an apparent seizure in April. Chelone was found dead in a van just days before he was to travel to Alaska for an extreme snowboarding competition. He had been suffering seizures ever since a dirt bike crash and refused to take medicine doctors prescribed to prevent the seizures.
"That was his big dream, to compete in the Olympics with Bode," friend and manager Devin Azevedo told The Boston Globe. "He was going for it."
"I know you wanted to be here with Chilly experiencing these games," Cooper said. "How much does it mean to you to come up with a great performance for him?"
"I mean, I don't know if it's really for him," Miller replied. "But I wanted to come here and, uh, I don't know, I guess, make myself proud."
Miller then began to cry, but Cooper then asked one more question, which seemingly crossed the line for both Miller and for fans.
"When you're looking up in the sky at the start, we see you there and it just looks like you're talking to somebody. What's going on there?" Cooper asked.
Miller put his head down and cried, unable to continue the interview. Those who saw the interview immediately took to Twitter to slam Cooper for her insensitivity and for crossing the emotional line, when it should have been a celebration for Miller, not a moment for tears.
"I appreciate everyone sticking up for me," Miller later tweeted. "Please be gentle w/ Christin Cooper, it was crazy emotional and not all her fault. My emotions were very raw, she asked the questions that every interviewer would have. Pushing is part of it, she wasn't trying to cause pain."
"I have known Christin a long time, and she's a sweetheart of a person," Miller told Matt Lauer on Monday. "I know she didn't mean to push. I don't think she really anticipated what my reaction was going to be, and I think by the time she realized it, it was too late. I don't blame her at all. I feel terrible that she's taking the heat for that because it really was just a heat-of-the-moment kind of circumstance. I don't think there was any harm intended. It was just a lot of emotion for me. You sometimes don't realize how much you can contain that stuff until the dam breaks, and then it's just a real outpouring."
