When your parents are considered icons, you can rarely escape their shadow. For Mary Ruth Joyner, the towering figure that her mother was, continues to impact the former’s life even today. Despite leaving this mortal world almost thirty years ago, Flo-Jo remains one of the most exemplary athletes in history. Her tragic death sent ripples across the world, which are felt even today, and the late Olympian’s daughter can sometimes face the brunt of it.

In her recent Instagram story, Mary shared her disturbing experience from the 2012 America’s Got Talent. Captioned, “Why I will never audition for a TV show ever again,” she narrated the troubles she was forced to go through by the producers. “I was voted off America’s Got Talent in 2012 in the Las Vegas Round season 7,” Mary recalled and went on to elaborate on how the participants were provided with shambling conditions.

“I was separately interviewed and forced to talk about my mom dying and they finally got me to cry after they emotionally broke me down and got the “on camera reaction” BEFORE I GOT ON STAGE,” she blasted the AGT hosts for taking advantage of her background to increase their own popularity. The experience naturally left a lasting mark and Flo-Jo’s dear daughter didn’t want to continue with her singing at the show.

“I felt I let my family down, my supporters, fans, and all my music teachers and the world,” she noted her low emotions that were a direct result of her stint at America’s Got Talent. However, she also understood how it wasn’t entirely her fault. “Us singers didn’t get any sound checks or warm-ups after having to film & be in the backgrounds for hours…we had to be by the casino with smoke and making our voices hoarse we couldn’t stay in our rooms because they needed everyone for ‘b-roll’,” her allegations were staggering, to say the least.

But that’s not all, Mary had a hard time finding privacy for herself. “I was followed into the women’s bathroom with three large cameramen and I still had my mic on and was trying to get away from them. I was TRAUMATIZED,” she exploded in her social media update. While her run at the AGT didn’t end well, Mary continues to remember how big of an influence her late mother had on her life.

Flo-Jo’s daughter has carved out a name for herself

When Flo-Jo passed, Mary was only seven years old. But the clock ticked on, and she is now herself a mother. Naturally, with her age, Mary has come to appreciate and understand how important her mom was to the world of track and field. And yet, she chose to keep herself away from the tracks, and instead pursue a career in a different direction. Today, Mary Ruth Joyner is a singer-songwriter, dancer, producer, musician, and performer. She also founded a charitable organization after Flo-Jo to make sure the late sprinter’s memory lives on among us.

Mary took up music and singing as her major at Santa Monica College. Her stint at America’s Got Talent gave her career a kick-start, despite Mary not winning. Flo-Jo’s daughter enjoys a popularity among her fans, that the current world record holder in the women’s 100m and 200m races would be proud of. And yet, whenever the world gears up for another Olympic Games, Mary finds it hard to sit in front of the TV and watch the competitors lining up to surpass her mother’s records. Are you also a fan of Mary and her illustrious singing career? Show her some love in the comments below.