What is Tonya Harding's Net Worth?
Tonya Harding (now known as Tonya Price) is an American former Olympic figure skater who has a net worth of $150,000. Tonya Harding won the 1991 Figure Skating Championships and placed 2nd in the World Championships. She was the first American woman in history to land a triple axel in competition. Unfortunately, she is probably most famous for her alleged involvement in a 1994 attack on fellow figure skater Nancy Kerrigan, which got Tonya banned from figure skating for life. Harding later spent some time as a professional boxer, and she competed on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" in 2018, coming in third place.
In 2017, the film "I, Tonya," which starred Margot Robbie as Harding, won dozens of awards and earned Robbie an Academy Award nomination. Tonya reportedly was paid just $1,500 to license her rights to what eventually became "I, Tonya," but also had some bonus incentives based on performance. The film helped re-frame Tonya as a victim and less of a villain than had been previously perceived.
(Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for NEON)
Early Life
Tonya Maxene Harding was born on November 12, 1970, in Portland, Oregon. Her mother, LaVona, worked as a waitress, and her father, Albert (who passed away in 2009), held several jobs, such as apartment manager and truck driver. Tonya started skating at just 3 years old and trained with coach Diane Rawlinson, and LaVona hand-sewed Tonya's figure skating outfits since the family couldn't afford to buy them. When Harding was 16, her parents divorced, and during her sophomore year, she left Milwaukie High School to pursue her skating career full-time. Tonya earned her GED in 1988. Harding alleged that she suffered physical and psychological abuse at the hands of her mother, and "The Tonya Tapes," a 2008 authorized biography, stated that Tonya was raped by an acquaintance in 1991 and molested by her half-brother, Chris Davison, during her childhood.
Skating Career
In 1986, Tonya came in sixth place at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, then placed fifth the two following years and third in 1989. She began training with coach Dody Teachman after the 1989 Nationals Championship and won that year's Skate America competition. Though she was in second place at one point during the 1990 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Harding ended up finishing seventh because asthma and the flu affected her performance. While competing in the 1991 U.S. Championships, she became the first American woman to execute a triple Axel. That year, she also won the U.S. Ladies' Singles title and finished second in the World Championships. In 1992, Tonya came in third in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, fourth in the Winter Olympics, sixth in the World Championships, and fourth in the Skate Canada International event. Harding won the 1994 U.S. Championships but was stripped of her title after the Nancy Kerrigan scandal. She finished eighth in the 1994 Winter Olympics, and though she was banned from figure skating, she was allowed to compete in the 1999 ESPN Pro Skating Championship and came in second.
(Photo by Andreas Altwein/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Nancy Kerrigan Attack
During a practice session for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships at the Detroit Cobo Arena on January 6, 1994, a man attacked Nancy Kerrigan as she stepped off the ice, striking her right knee several times. As it would turn out, the attacker had been hired by Tonya's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and his friend Shawn Eckhardt. Harding denied having any prior knowledge of the attack, but Gillooly, Eckhardt, and assailant Shane Stant later stated that she was well aware and even helped plan the events. Tonya was allowed to compete at the 1994 Olympics, and after returning to the United States from Lillehammer, Tonya pleaded guilty to having knowledge of the attack after-the-fact and not coming forward. She was sentenced to three years of probation, 500 hours of community service, and a $100,000 fine, and the United States Figure Skating Association banned her from the sport on June 30, 1994.
(CRAIG STRONG/AFP via Getty Images)
Boxing Career
In 2002, Harding appeared on Fox's "Celebrity Boxing," defeating Paula Jones. Tonya's first professional boxing match took place in February 2003, and she lost to Samantha Browning. She then took part in a celebrity boxing match on Comedy Central's "The Man Show" and defeated comedian Doug Stanhope, one of the show's co-hosts. In March 2004, Tonya reportedly cancelled an Oakland, California, boxing match due to death threats against her. Harding's last match was in June 2004; she lost to Amy Johnson and was booed when she entered the boxing ring. She decided to give up boxing because of her asthma.
Phil Cole/ALLSPORT
Personal Life
In 1986, 15-year-old Tonya began dating 17-year-old Jeff Gillooly, and they married on March 18, 1990. Though they divorced in August 1993, Jeff continued to manage Tonya's skating career, and they reconciled in October, living in a rented Beavercreek chalet together until January 1994. Harding was then married to Michael Smith from 1995 to 1996, and she wed Joseph Price on June 23, 2010. The couple welcomed a son, Gordon, on February 19, 2011.
In 1996, Tonya helped save the life of 81-year-old Alice Olson by performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the woman, who had collapsed at a Portland bar. In 2000, Harding was arrested after attacking boyfriend Darren Silver, and a few months later, she was sentenced to three days in prison, a suspended prison sentence of 167 days, and 10 days of community service. The judge also ordered Tonya to abstain from drinking alcohol for two years and take anger management classes. Harding has worked as a painter, welder, deck builder, and Sears hardware sales clerk since the end of her figure skating and boxing careers.
