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Tonya Harding speaks out ahead of I, Tonya release
The movie about disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding is due to hit cinemas in Australia next month.
With Margot Robbie tipped to win an Oscar for her portrayal of her, the former champion ice-skater has decided to speak out in an explosive tell-all interview where she sensationally reveals she knew there was a plot to attack her rival Nancy Kerrigan.
In a trailer for the TV documentary Truth and Lies: The Tonya Harding Story, the now 47-year-old discusses what she knew about her ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly's, and former bodyguard Shawn Eckardt's plan to take out her competition ahead of the 1994 Winter Olympics.
“I did ... overhear them talking about stuff where, ‘well, maybe we should take somebody out to make sure she gets on the team,’” Tonya says in the clip. “I go, ‘what the hell are you talking about?’”
Both men were convicted of hiring Shane Stant to deliberately injure Nancy and prevent her from competing in a bid to ensure Tonya won gold.
Stant forcibly struck Nancy on her knee with a baton as she walked off the ice during practice for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
The aftermath of the attack was caught on camera, with Nancy chillingly being heard screaming, "why?"
“It makes you cringe hearing it," Tonya says. "Because you know how much that it had to have hurt.”
Despite the brutal attack, Nancy recovered and was well enough to compete in the Olympics, where she earned a silver medal in women’s singles.
However, Tonya came in eighth and her life quickly unravelled when she was caught up in the criminal proceedings against her ex and her bodyguard.
Though she was never charged in any relation to the attack, she did plead guilty to conspiring to hinder the prosecution of those responsible and was banned for life from the U.S. Figure Skating Association, resulting in the end of her ice career.
Despite her epic fall from grace over 20 years ago, it seems Tonya is hoping the highly-anticipated flick and her two-part doco may help rebuild her image.
“I’m always the bad person," she says. "And I never understood that."
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