It was hard for me to leave the nest, but my mom is super proud of me. She said, 'You became independent really quickly, and I'm so proud of you,' but she misses me all the same.

A long time ago, a sports reporter wrote that I wasn't strong in the free-skate, that I was more of a short-program skater. And that bothered me because I work so hard every day just for a person to judge me on a couple of bad skates and deem me a bad free skater. That's absurd!

I believe in adventure and imagination, and I got that from my parents and the things I experienced as a child.