Tonya Harding Net Worth (Money & Salary)

What is Tonya Harding’s Net Worth?

Known now as Tonya Price, Tonya Harding is an American ex-Olympic figure skater with a net worth of $150,000. She claimed victory at the 1991 Figure Skating Championships and secured a 2nd place finish at the World Championships. Notably, she was the first American woman to successfully perform a triple axel in competition. However, her notoriety largely stems from her purported connection to a 1994 assault on fellow skater Nancy Kerrigan, which led to her lifetime ban from figure skating. Later, she ventured into professional boxing and appeared on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” in 2018, finishing in third place.

The film “I, Tonya,” released in 2017 and starring Margot Robbie as Harding, garnered numerous awards and earned Robbie an Academy Award nomination. Tonya reportedly received only $1,500 for licensing her story for “I, Tonya,” though she also had some performance-based bonuses. This film played a significant role in shifting the narrative around Tonya from a villain to more of a victim, compared to earlier perceptions.

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Early Life

Born on November 12, 1970, in Portland, Oregon, Tonya Maxene Harding grew up with her mother LaVona, a waitress, and her father Albert, who passed away in 2009 after working various jobs including truck driver and apartment manager. She began figure skating at the age of three under coach Diane Rawlinson, while her mother sewed her skating outfits due to financial constraints. When Tonya was 16, her parents separated, and she left Milwaukie High School during her sophomore year to fully commit to her skating ambitions. She obtained her GED in 1988. Tonya recounted experiences of physical and psychological abuse inflicted by her mother, and in “The Tonya Tapes,” a 2008 authorized biography, it was disclosed that an acquaintance had raped her in 1991 and that she had been molested by her half-brother, Chris Davison, during her childhood.

Skating Career

In 1986, she achieved sixth place at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, followed by fifth place in the next two years and a third-place finish in 1989. After the 1989 Nationals Championship, Tonya switched to coach Dody Teachman and won the Skate America competition that same year. Despite reaching second place at one point during the 1990 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, her performance was marred by asthma and flu, resulting in a seventh-place finish. During the 1991 U.S. Championships, she made history by being the first American woman to execute a triple Axel. That same year, she claimed the U.S. Ladies’ Singles title and finished second at the World Championships. In 1992, she secured a third place in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, fourth at the Winter Olympics, sixth in the World Championships, and fourth at Skate Canada International. Although she won the 1994 U.S. Championships, she was later stripped of the title following the scandal involving Nancy Kerrigan.

Finishing eighth at the 1994 Winter Olympics, she faced a ban from figure skating. Nevertheless, she participated in the 1999 ESPN Pro Skating Championship where she secured second place.

(Photo by Andreas Altwein/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Nancy Kerrigan Attack

On January 6, 1994, during a practice session for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships at the Detroit Cobo Arena, Nancy Kerrigan was attacked as she exited the ice, being struck multiple times on her right knee. The assailant was later discovered to have been hired by Tonya’s ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, along with his friend Shawn Eckhardt. While Harding denied any prior knowledge of the assault, Gillooly, Eckhardt, and the attacker Shane Stant later claimed she was fully informed and even contributed to the planning of the incident. Although Tonya was permitted to compete in the 1994 Olympics, upon her return to the U.S. from Lillehammer, she pleaded guilty to knowing about the attack after the fact and failing to report it. This resulted in a sentence of three years probation, 500 hours of community service, and a fine of $100,000, alongside a ban from the United States Figure Skating Association effective June 30, 1994.

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Boxing Career

In 2002, Harding participated in Fox’s “Celebrity Boxing,” achieving victory over Paula Jones. Her inaugural professional boxing match occurred in February 2003, but she lost to Samantha Browning. Subsequently, she took part in a celebrity boxing match on Comedy Central’s “The Man Show,” where she triumphed against comedian Doug Stanhope, one of the hosts. Reports indicated that in March 2004, Tonya canceled a scheduled boxing match in Oakland, California, due to receiving death threats. Her final match was in June 2004; she was defeated by Amy Johnson and faced booing upon entering the ring. Due to her asthma, she ultimately chose to retire from boxing.

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