The Tonya Tapes 2nd Edition

By Lynda Prouse and Tonya Harding

Based on the candid and sometimes startling conversations that YOU were never meant to hear, THE TONYA TAPES, written by award-winning author Lynda D. Prouse, chronicles the life of the world's most infamous female athlete -- TONYA HARDING -- revealing for the first time the whole truth of her difficult and amazing life on and off the ice. Based on actual, extensive interviews with Tonya Harding, and written with her collaboration, this is her story!

• Language: English
• Publisher: M. Stefan Strozier
• Release date: Mar 17, 2017
• ISBN: 9781544627809

Book preview

First published in USA in 2008

by World Audience

ISBN 978-1-934209-80-6

10-digit ISBN 1-93420980-5

$18.99

A9 2008, World Audience, Inc.

303 Park Avenue South, #1440

New York, NY 10010-3657

USA

Photos Courtesy of Tonya Harding and Linda Lewis.

Photo on front cover courtesy of Al Harding.

Photo of Author on back cover courtesy of David M. Szabo.

Edited by Kyle David Torke.

Book Design by Matthew Ward (Mockfrog Design).

Copyright notice: All work contained within is the sole copyright of Lynda D. Prouse and Tonya Harding and may not be reproduced

without consent.

World Audience (www.worldaudience.org) is a global consortium of artists and writers, producing quality books, the literary journal Audience, and The Audience Review. Our periodicals and books are edited by

M. Stefan Strozier and assistant editors. Submit stories, poems,

paintings, photography, or artwork: [e-mail]. Inquire about being a reviewer: [e-mail]. Thank you.

New York (NY, USA).

Newcastle (NSW, Australia).

In loving memory of my parents, Bob and Vera Prouse,

and to my husband, David Szabo,

whose steadfast belief in me made this book possible.

Lynda D. Prouse

To all those who have suffered abuse and haven’t been heard.

Tonya Harding

Contents

Acknowledgmentspage  6

Foreword by Michael A. Rosenberg7

Introduction by Lynda D. Prouse11

Author’s Note18

The Interviews:

(1) The Comeback23

(2) Little Girl Lost37

(3) A God-Given Talent71

(4) Rising Through the Ranks89

(5) Boyfriends, Husbands, & Horror100

(6) Walking a Tightrope138

(7) The Accident That Would Change Everything163

(8) Self-Esteem & Misinformation173

(9) 1994 Nationals – The Whack Heard Round the World191

(10) Making Television History – Skating at the Olympics221

(11) After the Olympics235

(12) The Hubcap Incident263

(13) Update & Reflections276

Acknowledgments

Thanks to my dear friend and manger Michael Rosenberg, who has gone far beyond the call of duty in order to see this book published. For his deep belief in ‘The Tonya Tapes’, his encouragement when others failed to ‘get it’, his excellent writing and editing skills, I am profoundly grateful. Thanks also to Linda Lewis for her support and tireless efforts in gathering many of the photographs for this book, and to those at World Audience, especially publisher Mike Strozier for his enthusiasm and patience, Matthew Ward for his thoughtful and creative book design, and of course, editor ‘extraordinaire’ Kyle Torke. I am also very grateful to publicist Nicole Goesseringer, who has become such an integral part of our team.

And to my friends and family, especially brothers Terry and Bob, and sister Marlene, thank you for your support and for the time spent listening to me as I worked through this project. I love you all dearly.

Finally, thank you Tonya for trusting me with your story. The journey we took together has truly touched my heart.

—Lynda D. Prouse

My love and thanks to Michael Rosenberg, Lynda Prouse, Linda and Greg Lewis, and to all those others who have been so supportive in helping me to regain my life.

—Tonya Harding

Foreword

by Michael A. Rosenberg

Tonya Harding’s First-and-Only Figure Skating Manager

What may surprise you is that Tonya Harding is nice C9 very nice.

If you went to a dinner party and around the table were seated champion athletes from several sports, at the end of the evening Tonya would most likely be one of your favorite guests. She is quick-witted, interesting, charming, funny C9 and, as I said, nice.

Her delightful social presence is amazing when you consider she was raised by an alcoholic and abusive mother and a weak father, sexually molested by her half-brother, forced by her parents to move to different homes (which for the most part were trailers parked in relatives’ driveways) at least twice per school year, lived in truly dirt poor conditions, and was never reallyCAtaught by anyone the ‘niceties’ of social interaction.

Admittedly, she can also be unpolished, tough, coarse, and more comfortable in a pool hall with a cigarette in one hand and a beer in the other – or working on a carburetor under the hood of a car – than practicing a choreographed skating program on the ice. Unlike most women in figure skating, Tonya’s image is definitely not the ‘girl-next-door’ (which irked the United States Figure Skating Association to no end), and that dichotomy of personality has always made her a magnet for the press.

But somehow, some way, Tonya Harding wakes up each morning with a positive attitude and deep faith that eventually her life will all work out. She doesn’t look back on her tribulations in a negative way; instead, she always seems to be optimistic and cheerful. And she’s been jailed, on probation, despised, made the object of jokes on national TV, fined all of the money she had (and more), and ended up broke – while watching many of her fellow skaters make millions of dollars due primarily to the upsurge of the sport she unwittingly brought to a spectacularly popular level.

I first met Tonya in 1991 after she won the first of her two National Figure Skating Championships; I signed her as a client with the expectation that she would be a serious contender for the Gold Medal at one of the two upcoming Olympics.

She was the most athletic female skater I had ever seen (and I have represented over 100 National, World, or Olympic Figure Skating ChampionsCAduring my 25-year career*); she was the first American woman to complete successfully the legendary (and only once previously performed by anyone) triple-Axel, the 31/2-revolution difficult jump that immediately brought her international fame.

I decided to fire her as a client in the fall of 1993, three months before the whack on the knee scandal, because her former husband, Jeff Gillooly, was constantly interfering in our relationship and advising her to demand more money for her skating appearances than I could negotiate for her. He was a rude, obnoxious, and arrogant man, and his influence over her was much greater than mine.

Terminating our relationship turned out, of course, to be one of the luckiest decisions in my life; otherwise, I would have been in front of the Portland grand jury stating that I knew nothing of the plot against Nancy Kerrigan, and I would have appeared as either a liar or at the least a very poor manager.

Instead, I watched all of the legal drama play out in the press, and I occasionally gave interviews (as her former manager) stating that I believed Tonya when she said that she had nothing to do with conspiring against Nancy – who had been her roommate several times and who she considered to be a friend. I believed then, and believe to this day, that Tonya wasn’t afraid to compete against Nancy: Tonya had beaten Nancy several times and was certain that she would again. The only skater Tonya ‘feared’ was the 15-year-old Ukrainian, Oksana Baiul, the reigning World Champion.CA Tonya was cocky – but she wasn’t a criminal.

The next time I saw Tonya was in Lillehamer at the Olympic Games as she answered questions from worldCAreporters at the biggest press conference in Olympic history; and I saw her again when she had a security guard at the arena bring me backstage and she begged me on her knees to take her back as a client. Although I truly liked Tonya and believed in her innocence, I declined to re-sign her, mostly because I then represented her rival, Oksana Baiul, and considered my current obligations to Oksana to be an obvious conflict of interest.

When Tonya returned to the U.S. following a melodramatic and disappointing performance at the Olympics (in front of the 5th highest-rated television audience of all time), awaiting her were the FBI and assorted prosecutors who wanted to question her about the assault on Nancy. No one knew at that time that she had been terrorized, intimidated, and ultimately gang-raped as a ‘final warning’ not to testify against Jeff and his cohorts.CA She has never admitted to these violent and tragic experiences out of an inappropriate and undeserved sense of shame until this book.

So, she didn’t openly testify against the people who brutalized her, and they ended up plea-bargaining shorter jail sentences for themselves. As for Tonya, she was found guilty only of hindering the prosecution because she had found out after-the-fact that those men had conspired and then assaulted Nancy and then failed to tell the authorities.

We should all recognize that neither the prosecutors nor the judge brought conspiracy charges against her, and that she was not found guilty of conspiracy – and she insisted all along that she would never play any part in hurting Nancy. Furthermore, no evidence or proof was ever presented that would have led to a conclusion of guilt on that charge.

CARegardless, she was placed on three years of probation, fined $160,000.00, and compelled to perform 500 hours of community service.CA The sentence of the court, in my subjective opinion, was totallyCAoverboard in punishing her for hindering the prosecution, and I believe her punishment resulted from a judiciary bowing to public opinion and the conventional wisdom of the day. And the legal and emotional consequences almost killed her.

Several years later, I attempted to help Tonya make a professional comeback by inviting her to skate in the ‘World Cup Skating Championship,’ which I produced for ESPN. Until that time, no one else had helped her at all because she had been banned from amateur skating by the sanctimonious United States Figure Skating Association – and boycotted from performing by the professional producers, ice shows, and promoters.

She accepted my invitation – then trained and practised hard – and skated wonderfully. A sold-out crowd gave her a standing ovation, the television audience was huge, and she won the Silver Medal. She was back.

But Tonya’s stars always seemed to be crossed, and before she could accept any of the many offers that came to her following the competition and her highly-rated appearance on ‘Larry King Live,’ the heavily publicized ‘hubcap incident’ occurred, and all of her opportunities disappeared overnight.

Again, years went by before Tonya called me regarding an invitation she had gotten from Fox TV to fight on a new show entitled ‘Celebrity Boxing.’CA They had offered her $5,000, which she correctly felt was unfair, and she asked that I try to negotiate a better fee for her participation. I agreed, and after much give-and-take with Fox and the show’s sponsors, she earned $150,000 for that night.

As it turned out, the ratings were astronomical, and she should have received even more money – but both of us celebrated her victory over Paula Jones in the ring – and more importantly, we celebrated the fact that she was solvent again, at least for the moment.

After the boxing match, we again went our separate ways; she continued boxing with mixed success, and I sold my management firm to a large corporation and semi-retired. Only when Lynda Prouse, a superb writer I had worked with before on several other clients’ books, called me regarding The Tonya Tapes did my most infamous ex-client come back into my life.

When you read her story and hear her side – in her own words – I firmly believe that you will see the fine line between ‘extraordinary talent’ and ‘extraordinary trouble.’ I believe you will understand much better why she did what she did, and you will finally admire her unimaginably strong spirit. Her magnificent spirit has helped her survive what would have broken most of us.

The most universally recognized figure skater in history is not ‘broken’ ... she stands tall (for 5’1"), defiant, contagiously optimistic ... and she has most of us rooting for her to ‘make it’ in life. I certainly do.

—Michael Rosenberg

* Former manager of Dorothy Hamill, Oksana Baiul, Victor Petrenko, Rudy Galindo, Alexei Urmanov, Tai Babilonia & Randy Gardner, Elizabeth Manley, Linda Fratianne, Klimova & Ponamarenko, Punsalan & Swallow, Jill Trenary, Gritschuk & Platov, Caryn Kadavy, Jozef Sabovcik, and Tonya Harding, among others. Also partially represented Katarina Witt in the United States and promoted Elvis Stojko tours in Canada.

In the music world, managed Peggy Lee and Johnny Rivers and promoted nationally Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson, Quincy Jones, and other soul superstars.

Introduction

by Lynda D. Prouse

Tonya Harding is arguably the most tarnished woman in the history of sport, and the scandal that surrounded her in the winter of 1994 exposed a shockingly dark side to the seemingly pristine world of competitive figure skating.

Her infamy began prior to the Olympic Games when rumors circulated of Tonya’s involvement with the attack on her teammate, Nancy Kerrigan, who had been clubbed on the knee at the U.S. National Figure Skating Championships. Nancy was forced to withdraw from the competition while Tonya went on to win the event, ensuring a coveted placement on the Olympic and World team.

Considered to be one of the best skaters of her time, Tonya was the only American woman to complete a triple Axle jump in competition; however, her rough image and lifestyle left much to be desired in the eyes of those who controlled the sport. She had already won a National title in 1991 over Kristi Yamaguchi and Nancy Kerrigan, and went on to place second at the World Championships that same year – behind Kristi, but above Nancy. The following year, Tonya came fourth at the Olympics where Kristi was crowned Champion and Nancy claimed Bronze. When Kristi retired from amateur competition, it became clear to many that a media-inspired rivalry between Tonya and Nancy was fast unfolding. Tonya had the jumps and athleticism while Nancy had the look and artistry.

At the 1993 National Championships, Nancy won the title and Tonya placed fourth, losing her chance to compete at the World Championships where Nancy would skate, but only place fifth. Then came the 1994 Nationals and the scandalous assault. The story was immediately picked up by the international media and would dominate television and the press for months.

While Tonya declared her innocence, intense investigations began, and soon after authorities began making inquiries, one of those involved implied that Jeff Gillooly, Tonya’s ex-husband, had master-minded the plot. Speculation followed that Tonya would be pulled from the Olympic team; however, her lawyers stepped in and threatened the United States Figure Skating Association (USFSA) with a lawsuit. Until her guilt was proven in court, she would not be banned from skating.

Nancy recovered from her injury in time to compete at the Olympics, and her appearance on the same ice as Tonya, amid a massive media frenzy, became one of the most watched television events in history. One hundred and twenty seven million viewers worldwide tuned in for the short program alone, which ultimately led to an incredible rise in the popularity of the sport, creating untold future opportunities for figures skaters and those involved in the industry. Nancy would capture the Silver Medal from the Olympics and go on to a successful professional career while Tonya placed a dismal eighth and would soon find her life in shatters.

Pleading guilty to a charge of ‘hindering the prosecution’, Tonya admitted to learning after she arrived home from Nationals that her ex-husband and his cronies (Shawn, Derrick, Shane – see Author’s Note regarding the use of some last names) were allegedly involved in the attack. The reason she didn’t come forward as soon as she discovered who had instigated the assault was never fully explained until the writing of this book. And, until now, no one has explained the reason she went back to her husband in the first place, who, she maintained, beat and belittled her.

As punishment for her (however tangential) participation in Nancy Kerrigan’s assault, Tonya was stripped of her National title, put on probation, and served with huge monetary fines and hundreds of hours of community service. As the final reprimand, she was officially banned from sanctioned competition for life and unofficially shunned by the figure skating world in general. Although no rulings had been made that would prevent her from skating professionally, few skaters wanted to associate with Tonya for fear their own careers would be in jeopardy. Allowing the public to see inside a sport that had worked hard to manufacture an image of ‘ice princesses with fairy-tale lives’ had been a great embarrassment to the figure skating hierarchy, and it mattered not that this unrealistic image often drove young women to eating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse, and a tremendous amount of emotional instability. Meanwhile, the players in the sport took advantage of the constant media attention; and through television specials, shows, and professional competitions, they generated millions of dollars in revenues.

Tonya’s expulsion from the skating community was devastating. Her very existence evolved around the sport, and skating was the only area of her life where she shone. According to Tonya, any measure of true self-worth she felt came from her skating ability. Growing up in poverty and dominated by an alcoholic mother, she was constantly berated, and the verbal abuse she received from her mother in public would cause several people to call Social Services. In private, Tonya says, the beatings she took were frequent and harsh and the sexual molestation she suffered at the hands of an older half-brother, which began when she was five and continued into her teens, served to further harden her spirit.

Without skating to earn an income, Tonya found herself in dire financial straits. While her mother, ex-husband, friends, and others apparently cashed in on her downfall, she was now heavily in debt and maintains it took several years before she was able to pay off legal bills incurred as a result of the scandal. She remarried, but was separated from her new husband within just a few months.

After a couple of years, the media circus that surrounded Tonya began to subside; however, after saving an elderly woman’s life, she was soon in the headlines again. A few months later, interest in Tonya reached another fever-pitch when she reported to the police that she was the victim of a kidnapping attempt. Jokes were made about the incident; but according to Tonya, people didn’t realize that since 1994 she had been continually hounded and followed by obsessive strangers. Some left love notes at her door while others left death threats.

Although Tonya had publicly expressed her regret to Nancy Kerrigan several times, Tonya’s sentiments had always been conveyed through the media. So, in 1997, she agreed to meet Nancy face-to-face on national television and apologize again. Tonya asserts that although Nancy said she would never appear with her, the enticement of a large fee must have been a strong incentive. While Tonya was also paid for her appearance, she says she didn’t realize that a skating show, in which Nancy was starring, was to immediately follow the ‘apology’ and be broadcast in its entirety. Again, the television ratings for the so-called ‘apology show’ went through the roof.

In the spring of 1999, Tonya was re-signed by the skating management firm she had been associated with during her more successful years. Owned by Michael Rosenberg, the organization represented a large stable of Olympic and World Champions but had been forced to sever Tonya’s relationship when her then-husband caused constant conflict by repeatedly interfering with her career. With the firm’s renewed backing, she made

several appearances on national talk shows, expressing her desire to compete and perform as a professional skater, believing she had more-than paid her dues for past mistakes. Then, in the fall of 1999, she was invited by the firm to participate in its ESPN Skating Professional Competition, featuring past Olympic and World Champions, where she incredibly placed second behind an Olympic Silver Medalist. After the event concluded, the firm was flooded with requests for Tonya interviews and appearances. The highest rated were ‘Larry King Live,’ ‘Rivera Live,’ and ‘Maury Povich’; and she was featured prominently in ‘TV Guide.’ Business offers also poured in; she was asked to host a nationally syndicated radio talk show, star in American produced skating shows in Asia, Europe, and Australia, and to tour North America as the featured skater in a revitalized Ice Capades.

Prior to the ESPN event, Michael Rosenberg asked if I would consider authoring Tonya’s autobiography based on my extensive experience with elite skaters and on the articles and best-selling books I had written about them. I suppose that I, too, had inadvertently taken advantage of the surge in the popularity of the sport caused by ‘Tonya-Nancy.’ However, I was somewhat wary of this latest offer, having formed my own generally negative opinion of Tonya Harding.

I reluctantly agreed to meet Tonya at the ESPN event in Huntington, West Virginia, and was immediately struck by her diminutive appearance and courteous manner. Where was the larger-than-life woman with the brusque attitude that I, like millions of others, had come to expect? Was I being duped into falling for a first-rate acting job, or had the media’s portrayal of Tonya Harding been hugely blown out of proportion? Either way, I assumed, the interviews I agreed to conduct with her could be very, very interesting.

Over the course of the next few months, I telephoned Tonya at arranged times and interviewed her in the same manner I had done with many other celebrity figure skaters. The sessions were taped, with her consent, and what she provided would give me the basis for the autobiography I intended to write. As in past experiences, I would glean as much information as possible, create the manuscript in Tonya’s voice, and be credited on the cover with an As Told To. Upon completion, the plan was to publish and market the new book as one of the ‘great comeback tales’ of the century.

I spent many hours interviewing Tonya, and, to say the least, I was not disappointed with her story. In fact, at times, I was so saddened or shaken I would have to stop the interview. Much of her story I found riveting, some of the events appalled me, and many of our discussions left me drained, but I was always drawn back for more. When the answers to some of my questions didn’t seem to make sense, I would ask again and again until I was satisfied with her response – or just simply realized that I couldn’t get anything else from her. During the interviews, neither of us thought the tapes would be used for anything more than the information I sought to write the autobiography; and as such, Tonya, especially, was probably freer in her words than she would have been had she thought otherwise.

We were close to finishing the interviews when a series of events would bring Tonya’s comeback, and the original book, to an abrupt halt. In early January, 2000 – exactly six years after the attack on Nancy Kerrigan – Tonya was driving to a coaching job and lost control of her vehicle. Although she was not charged in the mishap, she suffered some painful injuries and was prescribed various medications that she took along with the anti-depressant she had been on since 1996. According to Tonya, she was never properly warned about the potentially serious impact of taking such a combination of drugs nor of the possible effects alcohol mixed with these drugs might have on her system.

In late February, after taking her pills and consuming what Tonya says was only a small amount of alcohol, she got into a quarrel with her then-boyfriend that escalated into what would become known as the ‘hubcap incident..’ This resulted in her arrest and guilty plea to disorderly conduct and malicious mischief. Another media whirlwind ensued, and her boyfriend sold his side of the story to a tabloid (that Tonya later proved had doctored the photographs of his injured face). Consequently, she served three days in jail, 80 hours of community service, and attended anger management classes. Shortly after the incident, she again appeared on ‘Larry King Live’ to try and set the record straight about the tabloid and to state her desire to turn her life around.

While Tonya and her boyfriend took up separate residences, she amazingly continued to see him; and even during our (by then) sporadic interviews and informal conversations, she remained loyal to him, telling me he must have sold the story during a moment of weakness. They would split up for good a few months later.

Not as surprisingly, all business offers were withdrawn pending a resolution to Tonya’s latest episode. Because the book was to be marketed as a ‘comeback story,’ we decided we needed to completely rewrite the proposal. More interviews followed; however, after reviewing the project, her manager and I had misgivings about the autobiographical theme of the book, and we decided to shelve the project for the time-being. I stopped work on the manuscript and filed the tapes away.

Tonya went on to make further headlines a couple of years later for driving under the influence and then by taking up the life of a pro boxer. One of the ‘celebrity’ matches – Fox’s ‘Celebrity Boxing,’ pitting her against an alleged paramour of President Clinton – Paula Jones – again sent the television ratings to record highs. Then during the 2006 Winter Olympics, Tonya appeared on ‘Entertainment Tonight,’ commenting on the Olympics and the newest reality show, ‘Skating with Celebrities.’ During one of these interviews, a television reporter asked Tonya if she would ever tell her whole story. I watched the show and thought, She has already told it – to me. I also realized I was sitting on part of sports history in the form of those taped interviews. Would others be as fascinated, surprised, and interested as I was if they had a chance to listen to the tapes?

Not quite certain what to do, I contacted a literary lawyer. As I suspected, I was informed I owned the tapes and began to formulate an idea. I would not proceed, however, until I had Tonya’s permission. After all, I may own the tapes, but they contained her story.

I had some difficulty tracking Tonya down because she had moved yet again and, this time, to another state. After exchanging a few pleasantries, I began to explain what I wanted to do with the tapes before I was abruptly interrupted.

I’ll sue you, she yelled into the phone, obviously upset. She was later to explain she was sick and tired of everyone else taking advantage of her name. Tonya’s tirade was quieted, however, when she realized that this wasn’t something I was going to do without her consent, and that I was willing to share any profits with her that may come as a result of my plan.

My idea was to publish the interviews very much as they were spoken with some interjection by me if an explanation was necessary or if I wanted to let the reader know Tonya’s mood at the time of the interview. Other than this, and the points outlined below in the Author’s Note, Tonya’s answers to my questions would not be substantively cut or edited and would read as I heard them at the time of the sessions. I was to prepare the entire manuscript, and she would later provide an additional interview intended as an update since the earlier sessions.

Initially, Tonya insisted I not release a certain section of the tapes that she found especially degrading and embarrassing. She had confided details to me that explained why she did not come forward when she first learned of her ex-husband’s involvement in the attack, and she thought those circumstances should be portrayed in a delicate manner (when we had intended on releasing the book as an autobiography). According to Tonya, I was only one of a few people to whom she had revealed the unsavory truth regarding her silence.

While I understood Tonya’s qualms, upon listening to the tapes again, I realized that for this book to go forward as intended, she would have to allow the complete story to be told. Nothing could be left out. After much discussion, Tonya acquiesced. I could release everything she had told me, leading up to the occurrence in question – and everything after, but she requested I delete the graphic details (which were not more than a paragraph in length) and substitute my words for hers. She was still very much humiliated and ashamed by what had happened to her.

What you are about to read may shock you. Some of the details you may find difficult to believe, and you may wonder how the abuse Tonya suffered was able to repeat itself for as long as it did. Like me, you may feel sadness for the little girl she was and whose life could have been so different had she been raised in a more stable household. Whatever your reaction to her story, and whether you have liked or disliked Tonya Harding, you will gain a rare insight into her world and, by extension, the cloistered milieu of the figure skating community and competitive sports in general. Hopefully, you will come away with a better understanding of the woman who once stood on the edge of greatness in her sport only to have it all go so horribly wrong.

Author’s Note

Although I have attempted to transcribe the tapes as accurately as possible, I have taken the liberty of correcting some grammar and removing certain colloquial language, especially if the utterances became too repetitive or interfered with the flow of words. Ultimately, I wanted a finished book that was easy to read. I purposely did not significantly modify Tonya’s responses to my questions, ‘clean-up’ her language, or try to make her sound like someone she is not. For the reader to know the real Tonya Harding, it was essential to leave her words as close to spoken as possible.

As Tonya and I became more comfortable with each other, some of our sessions would veer away from the interviewing process, and we would become engrossed in conversation that may have nothing to do with what I had originally intended to include in the autobiography. If I believed these conversations were pertinent to her story, or would allow the reader a better understanding of