In an interview with ABC, the 47-year-old former figure skater admits she was aware of a possible plot to attack her fellow figure skater ahead of the 1994 Olympics games.
- Jan 3, 2018
AceShowbiz - Tonya Harding finally admits she knew about a possible plot to attack her fellow skater and Olympics rival Nancy Kerrigan ahead of the 1994 Olympics games. Harding appears in ABC's special "Truth and Lies: The Tonya Harding Story" where she opens up about her notorious past as well as her relationship with her mother and her reaction to "I, Tonya", the recently-released film about her life.
In the two-hour interview which will air on January 11 at 9 P.M. ET, Harding says she "knew something was up" before the incident that nearly ended Kerrigan's career happened. However, Harding denies playing any role in planning the attack, which was later revealed to have been set up by her husband Jeff Gillooly and bodyguard Shawn Eckardt, whom she dubs "dumb as a post."
"I did, however, overhear them talking about stuff where, 'Well, maybe we should take somebody out to make sure she gets on the team.' I go, 'What the hell are you talking about?' " Harding confesses, before saying that she was a "pawn" in the plot but "paid the ultimate price" for the assault of her fellow figure skater which was carried out by hired hand Shane Stant.
"I'm always the bad person. And I never understood that," says Harding. She later breaks down in tears as she recalls the moment her involvement was revealed to the public. "I get angry, nobody wanted to ever believe me," she says. "When I found out that the truth was finally going to come out."
Speaking about her husband at the time, Harding gets emotional as she says that she thought Gillooly was going to kill her "many times." She adds, "My skating was great. But my life was in shambles."
Harding initially denied having any knowledge of the situation. And in the end, Kerrigan recovered and won Silver at the Lillehammer Games, while Harding finished in eighth and left the sport in disgrace. In March of that year, Harding pleaded guilty to hindering the prosecution following the attack, and was put on probation and ordered to perform community service.
Soon after, Harding was stripped of her 1994 U.S. Championship title and banned for life from participating in U.S. Figure Skating Association events as either a skater or a coach.
