McKayla Maroney Naked Photos are Real? 'Was Underage in the Photos' [Rumors]

In the wake of the celebrity nude photos scandal involving a little over a hundred female celebrities, lawyers of one of the victims went to work to ensure that the personal images of their client would be taken down and not get published -- all on the basis that she was underage when the photo was taken.

TMZ reports that one of the lawyers of 2012 London Olympian McKayla Maroney had contacted a pornography site to take down leaked photos of the gymnast. The letter addressed to Porn.com claimed that the images that were first leaked on 4chan were taken when Maroney was not of legal age. Maroney had just turned 18 in December. On the other hand, the gossip news site stressed that in the other letters sent to multiple sites, the reason used was that the Olympian owns the copyright of the images.

Although it is possible that some of the photos are of Maroney, it does indicate that the Olympian had been lying about the authenticity of the photos.

As soon as the celebrity nude photos were leaked, Maroney was among the few celebrities who clarified that the photos are not real. Maroney included a popular Internet meme of a smiling Jesus figurine doing a thumbs-up sign while winking and tweeted on September 1, "the fake photos of me are crazy!! was trying to rise above it all, and not give 'the creator' the time of day.. BUT (you sir, need Jesus)."

Maroney shifted to a more serious mood in another tweet posted on the same day, thanking her fans for their support. It read, "shout out to my fans for defending me all day long.. even when things got weird u stood by me. and that meant the world."

Her national teammate, Aly Raisman, offered support to the troubled gymnast on the same social media platform, and wrote, "This scandal is not a joke and it is upsetting that an invasion of privacy results in entertainment for some. Please respect the fact that the photos were private and not for the whole world to see. My heart is broken for the women who were violated."

Mashable said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is currently hunting down the person responsible for the nude photos leak. FBI public affairs officer Christopher Allen said in a statement provided to the site, "The FBI is aware of the allegations concerning computer intrusions and the unlawful release of material involving high-profile individuals, and is addressing the matter. Any further comment would be inappropriate at this time."