15 Years Later - Tonya Harding Looks for Peace in Michigan
Monday, February 23, 2009 at 15:41 Tonya Harding, known for the "Whack Heard 'Round the World" 15 years ago -- when Nancy Kerrigan was assaulted during the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit -- returned to Michigan to sign autographs for charity. Great photo boxing photo galleries click to view one and two
Harding, 38, toughened by years of answering questions about the incident, signed autographs as an added attraction to a mixed martial arts card at the Palace. She was to have fought a boxing exhibition but instead charged $10 a pop for her signature, donating half of what she earns to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Detroit.
Harding, who hasn't spoken to Kerrigan in years, said Friday afternoon: "You move on, but it still hurts because Nancy was a friend of mine. We roomed together on tour. We weren't rivals -- she was my friend and competition. The only rivals were the judges. Why would I want to hurt Nancy ... hurt anybody?"
Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and several colleagues were sentenced to prison for their roles in the attack, which occurred after a practice session Jan. 6, 1994. The incident left Kerrigan with injuries to her right knee and left the world of figure skating stunned.
Harding, who denied knowing of the plot, was later banned for life by U.S. Figure Skating, although she was allowed to compete at the Lillehammer Winter Olympics, where Kerrigan won the silver medal and Harding finished eighth.
Harding was subsequently stripped of the championship she won in Detroit that snowy January weekend and received three years' probation for hindering the prosecution's investigation into the mugging.
I sat down with Harding at an area hotel Friday afternoon. She appeared tired following her trip from her home outside Vancouver, Wash., and many long days on the road on meet-and-greet trips while promoting her book, "The Tonya Tapes," a tell-all tale.
But she didn't flinch, willing to share parts of an equally sad and reborn life.
"It's really beautiful around here," said Harding, who is in Michigan for the first time since the Kerrigan incident. "Fifteen years is a long time. I'm glad I'm actually back."
The years since the Cobo Arena attack have been a period of torment and renewal for Harding, the first American woman to land a triple axel in competition.
There have been multiple episodes involving law enforcement, including drunken driving and assault charges and a violation of probation.
Her relationships with men have been stormy. In her book, she alleges that Gillooly and two men she did not know raped her at gunpoint, threatening her life if she revealed anything of the Kerrigan situation.
But amid all the turmoil and a brief, if unspectacular, pro boxing career, Harding has come to bond with her father, Al, develop a love affair with the woods and help children in need, she said.
"My parents -- my mother mostly -- didn't provide any guidance," Harding said of her childhood. "We didn't have any money, and we moved 13 times before I was in fifth grade. My mother would tell me I was fat and ugly. She was never around. I don't know where she is, and I don't care. I haven't spoken to her in years."
Nor has she spoken to Gillooly, who married her in 1990, when she was 19.
"Do I care -- no," Harding said of what has happened to her ex. "For any young girl out there, don't make the same mistake as Tonya. Read my book."
Harding still denies prior knowledge of the Kerrigan attack. She said she learned of it after being awakened from sleep.
"I just remember feeling very scared that night (in Detroit)," she said.
When she's not traveling, Harding enjoys hunting and fishing.
"And building bonfires on my front lawn and drinking a few beers," she said. "I'm not a hillbilly. ... I just want to be an outdoors girl."
Tonight, Harding will let those at the Palace judge her, talk to her, shake her hand or walk away in disgust.
"Whether you like or dislike me, come meet me," Harding said. "Help the kids -- they are the future. I'd also like to thank people for having me back in this town."
Harding managed a smile. When's the last time you smiled a lot? I asked.
"When I was on the ice," she said. link
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