During Tonya Harding‘s ABC News interview that aired this week, Harding made several eye-opening claims, including one alleging that her mother threw a steak knife at her. LaVona Golden denied that claim in the same ABC special.
In Truth and Lies: The Tonya Harding Story, Harding claimed her mother was abusive when she was in high school.
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“I remember she dragged me into the bathroom and beat me with a hairbrush, literally,” Harding said.
In another incident, Harding said her mother threw a steak knife at her when she left the kitchen table as Golden was talking to her.
“And that’s when it happened. I was about 10 feet from her. It was a steak knife,” Harding said.
Golden denied that the incident ever happened and also said the hairbrush beating Harding described was an isolated incident.
“Why would I throw a steak knife at anybody? She’s lied so much she doesn’t know what isn’t a lie anymore,” Golden said.
Golden also disputed Harding’s depiction of herself as trailer trash. “Tonya herself called us trailer trash. We were never trailer trash. We had a beautiful new trailer,” Golden said.
During the special, Harding also told ABC News’ Amy Robach that she knew of ex-husband Jeff Gillooly’s plan to hurt her biggest rival, Nancy Kerrigan, before the 1994 Winter Olympics.
“I did, however, overhear them talking about stuff, where, ‘Well, maybe we should take somebody out so we can make sure she gets on the team.’ And I remember telling them, I go, ‘What the hell are you talking about? I can skate,’” Harding told ABC News.
“This was, like, a month or two months before [the attack],” Harding explained. “But they were talking about skating and saying, ‘Well, maybe somebody should be taken out so then, you know, she can make it.’”
Back in 1994, Harding claimed she didn’t know about the attack. Gillooly spent two years in prison, and his friend Shawn Echardt was sentenced to 18 months.
Harding was still charged with conspiring to hinder prosecution. After pleading guilty, she had to pay a $160,000 fine and was sentenced to probation and community service. She was also banned from the U.S. Figure Skating Association.
Harding’s comments on the ABC special resulted in her publicist dropping her before it aired.
Harding is back in the spotlight thanks to I, Tonya, the award-winning biopic that stars Margot Robbie in the title role and Allison Janney as Golden.
