Tonya Harding cries after son watches her dance on 'Dancing with the Stars'
Tonya Harding shared how she has chosen to keep her son well out of the public eye because people can be "cruel" as she puts it. However, her son and her husband were both seen sitting in the audience during the last episode of 'Dancing with the Stars: Athletes'.
Harding performed on the show and tied for third place for her two dances. During the individual and team performances, she was able to score a cumulative 66 out of 80 points. Last week Tonya Harding's son, Gordon watched his mother on DWTS from home and it was only this week that Harding told Fox News that he actually attended the show.
"We let my son come, too, because it's a once in a lifetime thing and I wanted him to see it. Last week, he watched me at home on TV and he goes, 'Yeah, mom was pretty. Yeah, mom, I love you. But today, he told me that he was proud of me," Harding shared as she got emotional.
"This truly is a fresh start and I'm having a wonderful time," Harding added as she stood with her partner Sasha Farber. She also went to speak of the fact that not everyone is forgiving about her past and that everyone has their own opinion about the incident "but for the most part, everybody has been totally gracious and rooting for us and it's really exciting….I'm literally working my butt off."
Former DTWS winner Rashad Jennings was the guest judge alongside regular judges such as Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli, and Carrie Ann Inaba. The ice skater danced the quickstep to the tune 'Redneck Woman' which was totally apt as in the rehearsal footage she mentioned that she loves to hunt, fish, and cut wood.
Her ice skating rivals Mirai Nagasu and Adam Rippon took first place for the night and scored an astonishing 74 points. After the show was over, Rippon said, "I literally was just going over the steps in my mind and just reminding myself to smile and make dancer faces. I owe literally everything to how great of a teacher Jenna is."
In the rehearsal clips, Rippon revealed how he was only getting about three to four hours of sleep at night as he and Nagasu are also doing 'Stars on Ice' while simultaneously competing on Dancing with the Stars.
Former NBA star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and former softball pitcher Jennie Finch Daigle were only able to score 26 out of 40 for their salsa and cha-cha. Despite having the second highest individual score for the night, Arike Ogunbowale was eliminated from the show along with Kareem Abdul Jabbar. College court star Ogunbowale said, "I'm in good company."
Tonya Harding is one of the most controversial contestants on DTWS and her fellow competitor, Adam Rippon is not afraid to address the issue face front. Being an Olympic skater himself, he feels that people should not forget why she left the sport in the first place.
As reported by USA Today, "It was nice to see that she had a moment. but it’s also important to remember that skating wasn’t taken away from her – that she was banned because she was part of a bad thing." Several fans and followers also shared similar opinions as Rippon and took to Twitter to comment.