Piers Morgan Holds Tonya Harding's Feet to Fire in Confrontational Interview
Disgraced former figure skater Tonya Harding threatened to walk out of a confrontational interview [...]
Disgraced former figure skater Tonya Harding threatened to walk out of a confrontational interview with Piers Morgan.
On Tuesday, Harding appeared on British morning show Good Morning Britain for an interview segment with host Piers Morgan, the Daily Mail reports. But when conversation turned from her appearance at the Golden Globes to the 1994 incident in which rival Nancy Kerrigan was injured after being struck in the knee, Harding became visibly frustrated.
"What did I know, I knew after I got back, nothing prior to the attack," she said when Morgan asked if she had prior knowledge of the attack, which was orchestrated by Harding's husband, Jeff Gillooly, and her then-bodyguard, Shawn Eckdart.
"I respect you for trying to ask these questions, I'm here to talk about the future and what it means, my movie is going to help so many people, that it is OK to ask for help. So that's why I'm here," she continued.
But things reached a boiling point when Morgan accused her of "playing the victim."
"Thank you so much but I think I'm going to have to say have a good night," she threatened. "You weren't letting me finish. I think many people are victims every day, people need to stand up for themselves, that abuse shouldn't be happening anymore."
When Morgan asked a final time if she had any prior knowledge of the attack, which ultimately ended her career, she once again denied it.
Harding's denial comes just weeks after she announced that she had been aware of the plot to attack Nancy Kerrigan ahead of the 1994 Olympic Games.
"I knew something was up," Harding said in the ABC special Truth and Lies: The Tonya Harding Story. "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 had initially denied having any knowledge of the attack. However, in March of that year, she pleaded guilty to conspiring to hinder prosecution of the attackers and was put on probation and ordered to perform community service. Harding was later stripped of her 1994 US Championship title and banned from participating in US Figure Skating Association events.