Tonya Harding: Where is she now?
Tonya Harding’s unlikely rise and eventual fall from grace has been widely publicized ever since the Nancy Kerrigan attack and infamous scandal unfolded in 1994. But where is the former Olympic skater now?
As of January, she’s a "busy working mom" in southwest Washington, married to a man she met at a bar and focusing on the present.
"My family and I are doing good," she told People in January 2024.
Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan scandal
While preparing to compete in the 1994 Winter Olympics, figure skater Kerrigan was attacked and struck in the knee with a baton, rendering her unable to participate in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
U.S. figure skater Tonya Harding reads from a prepared text 27 January 1994 during a press conference at the Multnomah County Athletic Club, Oregon. (Photo credit should read CRAIG STRONG/AFP via Getty Images)
Investigators eventually found that Kerrigan had been attacked by a man named Shane Stant. Stant carried out the attack on Kerrigan, but Harding’s ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, her bodyguard, Brian Sean Griffith, and Derrick Smith, an associate of Shawn Eckhardt (another one of Harding’s bodyguards), together planned the attack.
Harding, Kerrigan’s competitor, vehemently denied having any knowledge of the plan before it was carried out. Still, she later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to hinder the prosecution, charged for not coming forward with knowledge about the planned attack.
Harding was sentenced to three years of probation and 500 hours of community service. She was also ordered to pay a fine of $160,000 and she was banned from the U.S. Figure Skating Association.
RELATED: Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan: A look back at the infamous 1994 attack
Where is Tonya Harding now?
Harding, now 53, struggled after being banned from skating. According to People, she was arrested twice — once for a DUI — and released a sex tape with Gillooly, her ex-husband, in the years following her criminal case.
In 2002, she appeared on FOX’s Celebrity Boxing and sparred with Paula Jones, the Arkansas woman who sued former President Bill Clinton for sexual harassment.
Harding met her husband in 2010 while having drinks with a friend shortly after returning home to Washington from Los Angeles. According to The New York Times, her now husband Joe Price was on the karaoke stage singing "Great Balls of Fire." They welcomed a baby boy in February 2011.
The release of the critically acclaimed movie "I, Tonya" in 2017 gave Harding a chance to retell her story in a different light.
File: Figure skater Tonya Harding poses at ABC's "Dancing with the Stars: Athletes" Season 26 - Finale on May 21, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images)
"The media had me convicted of doing something wrong before I had even done anything at all," she told ABC in 2018. "I am always the bad person. Is it a challenge from the Lord to see how far I can be pushed until I break and become nothing? You can’t push me that far anymore, because I have been nothing and I have been nothing several times."
Following the success of "I, Tonya," Harding began a comeback tour of sorts and appeared on Season 26 of "Dancing with the Stars" in 2018.
As of January, she was working as a custodian for two businesses and had returned to skating, People reports. She reunited with her former skating coach Dody Teachman and sometimes posts clips of herself skating to her Instagram page.
She doesn’t understand why people are still focused on what happened three decades ago.
MORE: Nancy Kerrigan attack: A look back at the infamous figure skating incident 30 years later
"I'm surprised that anyone is still interested in the incident from 30 years ago, especially considering there are so many problems in our country which concern us all, and I was only charged with hindering prosecution for not coming forward soon enough," she told People.
"Always keep the Faith and believe in yourself," she continued.
FOX’s Catherine Stoddard contributed to this report.