Netflix’s ‘Cheer’ Made Monica Aldama a Star. Her Life Has Been Hell Ever Since.

Cheer was a pandemic-era smash, elevating the dazzling but little-known sport of college cheer to the level of national obsession and reframing cheer itself from a sideline spectacle at football games to a thrilling and often perilous main event.

In 2007 Varsity also formed the Dallas-based nonprofit USA Cheer. The cheer world has long nurtured dreams of seeing its athletes compete at the Olympics, a goal that may well be realized at the 2032 games in Brisbane, Australia. USA Cheer was one key to that master plan. A governing body could tighten the reins of a sport that had initially been r... See more

Another scandal was brewing, and it would become the fight of her career. She would stand accused of attempting to cover up a sexual assault and get suspended from her sport. Even the subreddit page for Cheer turned on her—thousands of strangers once united by fandom were now essentially unanimous in their scorn. “Monica is absolutely disgusting,” ... See more

John Updike line, “Celebrity is a mask that eats into the face.”