Nancy Kerrigan became famous for her incredible skill as an ice skater. She won two Olympic medals. But the truth is, her life, both before and after her time in the spotlight, has been filled with an astounding amount of heartbreak.
Not only was Nancy physically attacked before the 1994 Olympics, a tragic event that would later be made into a movie, she also suffered through a relentless series of personal tragedies and hardships.
The pain in Nancy Kerrigan's life began when she was just a child, and it continued far into adulthood.
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1. Nancy's mother went blind.
Nancy's mother, Brenda, lost her vision almost completely when Nancy was a child. Her loss of sight was caused by a virus, and it left her unable to watch her daughter perform. She remained able to see people up close, and she needed a lot of extra help from her husband, Dan. For Nancy, there had to be a great deal of sadness that came with knowing her mother couldn't see her skate.
"I've never had any pain," Brenda told The New York Times in 1992. "It was just a virus, like you'd get a common cold." She could see Nancy better watching on the TV, so that's what she did even while at events. "As nice as it is being able to look at television up close, being underneath the stands my husband Dan and I feel we're missing something. We don't see people and that's a loss. It's really lousy for him. It's much more fun being part of a crowd."
2. The attack on the skater became how she was best known.
Even though Nancy Kerrigan was an incredible skater who won Olympic medals, sadly she became best known for the vicious attack that nearly took her out of the Games in 1994. "I was walking from the practice rink to the locker room but I never made it," she told Daily Mail. "After I walked through some curtains, someone came from behind them and ran alongside me on my right. He hit me very hard, just once, then kept running. Fortunately, I guess, his aim was bad. The doctors who treated me told me that if the bar had hit me one finger-width lower my knee cap would have been smashed and I might never have walked again."
Nancy was able to keep skating and took home the silver medal. But she could never live down the attack. She said people would point at her wherever she went, remembering that horrible TV moment as Nancy lay on the ground, crying "Why?" Only it was Nancy's real life, and being known for her worst moment was traumatic.
3. Hollywood became more interested in Tonya Harding.
Shockingly, even though skater Tonya Harding's ex-husband was to blame for the attack, Hollywood came knocking on Tonya's door. Her life inspired the movie I, Tonya, in which Margot Robbie played the skater. With that, it almost seemed that the public took Tonya's side.
"Nothing against Nancy Kerrigan, but I wanted to tell the story of the people who potentially thought [the attack] was a good idea," writer Steven Rogers told Entertainment Weekly.
Nancy told the Boston Globe she didn't watch the film and was "busy living" her life.
4. Nancy's brother was charged in her father's death.
In another horrific moment in Nancy's life, her brother was charged with killing her father, who died after an explosive fight with her brother. Nancy's brother, Mark, allegedly grabbed his father by the neck, causing his heart to fail. Mark's defense team said it was a preexisting condition that led to Dan's death, and Nancy spoke out later in defense of her brother.
"He shouldn't have been charged," she told Today in 2013. "My dad had a heart attack and that's that. Since then, we did the same thing we've always done — take things one thing at a time, and you get through it. Life's challenging and hard, and we stick together and move on." Still, her brother served time for his father's death.
5. Nancy's public reputation took a dark turn.
While Nancy was once the golden girl of skating, her reputation took a turn in later years. A series of unfortunate hot mic incidents had the public thinking poorly of her. During a Disney parade, Nancy was caught saying, "This is so corny, this is so dumb. I hate it. This is the most corny thing I have ever done." A Disney movie and book about Nancy's life had been in the works. After that, they never materialized.
6. Nancy suffered several miscarriages.
Nancy Kerrigan has three children, whom she is incredibly proud of. But she also suffered through an incredible amount of pain in the process of becoming a mother. Nancy had at least six miscarriages after marrying her agent, Jerry Solomon. Their first son was a child named Matthew, but it took eight years before the second baby was born. Nancy spoke out about the tremendous pain she went through during that time.
"I always thought I'd have three kids by the time I was 30," she told People. "The first time that you go in and they tell you, 'Oh there's no heartbeat,' it's devastating. I felt like a failure." She also opened up about how painful it was to tell explain the miscarriages to her young son.
7. But in spite of it all, Nancy never gave up.
Though the life of Nancy Kerrigan hasn't been easy, she's always managed to get through even the most difficult challenges with a ton of grace. She appeared on Dancing With the Stars in 2017, and though she didn't make it into the top three, it was a wonderful moment in the spotlight for the star.
Nancy also has a beautiful family and is set to produce and choreograph skating sequences for a new film called Fire & Ice.
