Tonya Harding is finally coming forward to announce that she was aware of a plot to attack Nancy Kerrigan ahead of the 1994 Olympic games.
In an exclusive trailer for the ABC special “Truth and Lies: The Tonya Harding Story,” the 47-year-old former Olympic skater is opening up about the events that ended her career in 1994, for the first time admitting that she knew of the attack against competitor Nancy Kerrigan.
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“I knew something was up,” Harding says in the clip, denying having a role in planning the attack. “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?”
In January 1994, Kerigan had been practicing for the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships when she was struck in the knee with a baton while walking off the ice. The attacker was identified as Shane Stant, who authorities would later learn had been hired by Harding’s husband, Jeff Gillooly, and her bodyguard, Shawn Eckdart, to break Kerrigan’s leg so she couldn’t compete at the Olympics.
“It makes you cringe hearing it, because you know how much that it had to have hurt,” Harding says.
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 1994US Championship title and banned from participating in US Figure Skating Association events.
“Truth and Lies: The Tonya Harding Story” airs on Jan. 11 (9 p.m. ET) on ABC.
