Tonya Harding’s Mom Really Did Wear a Wire to Trap Her Daughter Like in ‘I, Tonya’
When I, Tonya, hit theatres in 2017, viewers and critics everywhere were divided. Some people enjoyed Margot Robbie‘s performance as the disgraced ice skater Tonya Harding. In contrast, many people in the ice skating community felt the show painted Harding in an undeservedly good light.
I, Tonya, took some liberties with the storyline, but the dark comedy tried its best to stick to the real events. For instance, Harding’s mom really did wear a wire to trap her daughter, like in I, Tonya.
Real-life details that made it into the movie
I, Tonya follows the life and career of disgraced figure skater Harding and explores her connection to the 1994 attack on her famed rival Nancy Kerrigan. Harding was the first American woman to land the triple axel in the 1992 Olympic Games but failed to replicate the move in subsequent competitions.
On the other hand, Kerrigan was a beloved figure skater who landed sponsorship deals and had public favor on her side, which increased after she successfully completed the 1994 Games in Lillehammer after her attack.
Although I, Tonya is a mere recreation of events, the movie includes several real-life facts given its biopic status. For instance, in one scene, Allison Janney, who pays Harding’s mom LaVona Golden hits Robbie’s Harding with a hairbrush, an event corroborated by one of Harding’s skating colleagues and again by her childhood friend.
The movie also includes Harding’s memorable triple axel landing during the credits. I, Tonya, copied a lot of the announcer’s dialogue to a tee, even incorporating the “good girl” comment from one announcer after she stuck the landing.
The movie also got the attack on Kerrigan right, with both real life and movie Shane Stant charging their hit-related expenses to their credit cards. I, Tonya, mocked the hitman for moving his car every 15 minutes to avoid raising suspicion. In real life, the attacker moved his car every half hour.
Tonya Harding’s mom tried recording her to trap her
Harding and her mother didn’t have the best relationship. While Harding’s childhood best friend claimed Golden acted like any struggling parent who paid a lot of money for ice time, she acknowledged that Golden sometimes took things too far. Harding herself calls her relationship with her mother abusive and has repeatedly claimed as much.
The aftermath of the attack on Kerrigan resulted in intensified public scrutiny of Harding, and her mother seemingly fueled the flames. In I, Tonya, Janney’s Golden goes to Harding’s home wearing a wire, hoping to get Harding to incriminate herself. However, Harding [as reported by Vulture] said the incident didn’t happen in her home.
According to the former figure skater, her mom showed up at the ice rink where she was practicing before the 1994 Olympics wearing a microphone in her coat. Harding said that the press had asked Golden to try and get Harding to say incriminating things so that they could publish her statement.
Harding said she scolded her mother when she saw the device and told her to leave and never return. “I don’t want to have anything to do with you anymore. I have put up with this too long,” Harding told her mother.
Tonya Harding revealed what the movie got wrong
Since I, Tonya, is Harding’s story, she pointed out some inaccuracies in the biopic. For instance, Harding said she doesn’t swear as much as Robbie does in the movie. “Trust me, I don’t say the word [expletive] 120 times a day,” she told The New York Times.
Harding acknowledged that she does curse if she hurts herself or when something bad happens but not as frequently as in the movie. She also denied telling a judge to “suck my d***” but said she wished she’d said that when she saw the movie, saying she would never confront a judge on the ice.
