Simone Biles Cuts Ties With Controversial Telehealth Provider Cerebral

Cerebral Inc., a telehealth provider, and Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles have ended their partnership, the company announced. The two had joined forces last year in an effort to use Ms. Biles' mental health advocacy to help the startup expand.

In October 2021, Ms. Biles was announced as the "chief impact officer" for Cerebral, a company that offers online access to mental health treatment from therapists and prescribers. No financial details were revealed. Ms. Biles had become a well-known symbol of mental health after her unexpected withdrawal from the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Stephen Cohen, a spokesman for Cerebral, reported that the contract had expired earlier this year and was not renewed. The agent for Ms. Biles declined to make any comment.

The sudden conclusion of the "Simone Biles x Cerebral" collaboration highlights the potential dangers that athletes face when they promote businesses, especially in new fields such as telehealth and cryptocurrency. Athletes often describe their deals as partnerships in which the company promises to support them in all their endeavors, although the athletes don't usually take a more active role in the company's activities. However, when athletes look for a deeper connection to the company, they also put their own reputation at risk if the company fails.

According to reports from both current and former employees, Cerebral allegedly put pressure on clinicians to prescribe powerful stimulants such as Adderall to adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, as reported by The Wall Street Journal in a series of articles.

In May, the board of Cerebral made the decision to terminate Kyle Robertson, the company's founder and CEO. This followed the announcement that the company had been served a subpoena from federal prosecutors investigating potential violations of the Controlled Substance Act. As a result, CVS Health Corp. and Walmart Inc. stopped filling Cerebral's prescriptions for controlled substances like Adderall. In October, Cerebral announced that it would be reducing its staff by 20%.

Cerebral has stated that they do not put any pressure on clinicians and that they offer a necessary service. They have also declared that they are working with the investigations and have not been charged with any illegal activity. The spokesman for Mr. Robertson did not answer any inquiries.

Between November 10th and 15th, Ms. Biles was taken off of Cerebral's homepage, as seen in screenshots from the Internet Archive. On Monday, a page about the partnership was still available. Before her image was removed, an asterisk was added to indicate that she only uses Cerebral's therapy services.

Ms. Biles has not posted any advertisements for Cerebral on her social media accounts since the spring of this year, when the company became embroiled in controversy. A review of her Instagram account this week revealed that the ads she had previously posted to promote Cerebral's prescription services had been taken down.

Ms. Biles shared her experience with anxiety in an advertisement for Cerebral that was posted on their Facebook page in late March. She mentioned that Cerebral is a personalized solution for mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, ADHD, and insomnia. She found it to be a helpful resource in managing her anxiety.

The alliance with Ms. Biles had caused tension within Cerebral. A memorandum from the Cerebral board that was used to terminate Mr. Robertson's employment stated that in 2021, Mr. Robertson had asked the company's head of growth, Armaan Gandhi, to urge Ms. Biles to concentrate more on advertising Cerebral's prescription services, including those for ADHD.

The board noted that Mr. Robertson had written in Mr. Gandhi's performance review that he should have been utilizing her to better align messaging with the company's core value proposition (e.g. medications, ADHD) and to post content on social media that would be successful.

The memo held Mr. Robertson responsible for not taking care of the partnership, and conversations with his team had become difficult, even though the board was worried that ending the contract would cause permanent harm to the company's reputation.

The memo suggested that Mr. Robertson's emphasis on expansion had caused Cerebral to be seen as a "pill mill" in the eyes of the market.

Digital Health Business & Technology recently announced that the collaboration between Ms. Biles and Cerebral had come to a close.

At 25 years old, Ms. Biles has become a mental-health icon after her experiences at the Olympics in Tokyo in 2021. She had won four gold medals and a bronze at her first Games in 2016, but during her second, she chose to withdraw from the team final while it was in progress due to her mental state. Her decision was met with both praise and criticism, and upon returning home, she decided to focus on mental-health advocacy.

Ms. Biles has stated that she had taken medication for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) when she was younger, but had ceased taking it in the years prior to the Tokyo Olympics.

In an October 2021 interview, Mr. Robertson revealed that he had chosen to follow Ms. Biles' journey after witnessing her performance at the Olympic Games, her second. He believed that her story would be relatable to a wide range of people.

In an interview, Ms. Biles revealed that she had been presented with multiple mental health partnerships after returning from Tokyo and chose Cerebral due to its ability to provide therapy from any location. Cerebral was a partner of the post-Olympic tour that Ms. Biles was the headliner of, which had a strong emphasis on mental health.