37 year-old former US figure skater Tonya Harding was on the Today Show this morning in a somber interview with Meredith Viera to promote her new book. In the book, called “The Tonya Tapes,” she says that she was not involved in the clubbing incident of her rival, American skater Nancy Kerrigan, in 1994, and that her ex husband, Jeff Gillooly, planned it without her knowledge. Viera read an excerpt from Tonya’s book that said that she did plan on going to the FBI once she learned that they attacked Kerrigan, but that her ex and two guys she didn’t know raped her at gunpoint to keep her silent. This is the first time she has come forward with this news:

On being raped at gunpoint to keep silent about Kerrigan attack
Viera: “In this book, you reaffirm that you weren’t involved with the actual attack, but you say that you did plan to go immediately to the FBI when you found out that your ex husband was involved, until this happened, I’m going to read to you, this is the quote from your book:

‘Jeff and two other guys - don’t know who they were because I couldn’t see who they were - they were in a different car - decided to drive me up to the mountains, put a gun to my head, and take themselves upon me. They told me, this is what you are going to say, this is what you are going to do, and if you don’t you are not going to be here anymore.’

What you’re saying, Tonya, is that these men raped you and threatened to kill you.”

Harding: “Yes.”

Viera: “Why have you waited 14 years to tell this story?”

Harding: “Ashamed. Scared. There are so many people out there who have had bad things happen to them and they can’t tell anybody because they’re afraid to tell someone. It’s just time.”

Viera asked if she told anyone, and she said she told her godmother, the author of her book, and one other person.

On being beaten by her mother throughout her childhood
She said that when she didn’t skate well, her mother would drag her off the ice by her hair, take her to the bathroom, and beat her butt black and blue. For Tonya, the rink was the place she could feel in control and safe.

After the break they read a statement by her mother, who denied hitting Tonya except for one time with a hairbrush. She said “I will always love her. I am her mother.”

Tonya says she has forgiven her mom but that they are estranged and she does not think they will ever reunite.

On her troubled past and people questioning her credibility
Meredith reminds us that Tonya has been arrested for DUI and for attacking her boyfriend with a hubcap, and that people may question her credibility and wonder if she is trying to cash in with a book.

Tonya was kind of heartfelt in her response and said “I wrote the book to just be able to lift my spirits and also help other people out there… [who] don’t get their voices heard. Life is too precious to just throw it away. And I just want people to realize… talk to somebody. It’s not shameful… If you need help, ask for help. It’s ok.

“Life… has ups and downs. When you go to hell and come back, there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.”

Tonya said that success to her is having inner peace and being happy. She says she wants closure and a new beginning.

When she talked about how she was raped she got quiet and upset and it definitely looked like she was telling the truth. Tonya came off as a woman who was wounded and vilified, who is now trying to get her dignity and life back on track. She’s made a lot of bad choices since she was barred from figure skating, and maybe she’ll be able to regain some sense of self worth along with the closure on her terrible childhood that she says she’s looking for.

Considering that her mom was beating her throughout her childhood and her ex husband and his friends ganged raped her, It makes you look at the whole situation and all the press coverage that followed in a much different light.

Tonya Harding on The Today Show, 5/15/08, Part 1:

Tonya Harding on The Today Show, 5/15/08, Part 2: