Tonya Harding Nearly Walks Out of Piers Morgan Interview After Being Told to 'Stop Playing the Victim'
Things got awkward between Tonya Harding and Piers Morgan.
On Tuesday, the former Olympic ice skater appeared on Good Morning Britain via satellite and was probed by the 52-year-old TV personality about the infamous 1994 attack on her rival, Nancy Kerrigan. Morgan was ruthless in pressing Harding about whether she knew that her ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and his co-conspirator, Shawn Eckhardt, had hired a hitman to club Kerrigan in the knee after the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit, Michigan.
Harding dodged the inquiries and insisted that she was only there to promote the positive message of her biopic, I, Tonya, which stars Margot Robbie. "I respect you for trying to ask these questions. I'm here to talk about the future and what it means," she said. "My movie is going to help so many people, [and let them know] that it is OK to ask for help. So, that's why I'm here."
Interrupting the former 47-year-old athlete, Morgan responded, "Maybe it suits you to play the victim, [but] the victim was Nancy Kerrigan."
Harding then tried to shut down the interview. "Thank you so much but I think I'm going to have to say have a good night," she told the morning show host.
"You're going?" Morgan asked.
"You weren't letting me finish," she replied. "I think many people are victims every day, people need to stand up for themselves, that abuse shouldn't be happening anymore."
Morgan chimed in, "Nancy Kerrigan was the victim, she was abused she was attacked."
"People don't understand what I was going through," Harding insisted.
Bringing up the attack once more, Morgan pressed, "You did know what was happening, what they were planning to do didn't you?"
"No I did not!" Harding exclaimed.
Morgan replied, "You didn't have any knowledge at all, it was a pure coincidence?"
"No I did not," Harding again responded before ending the interview.
"I’m afraid I don’t share Ms Harding’s view that she is the victim in this story," Morgan later tweeted.
Prior to her appearance on Good Morning Britain, Harding joined the I, Tonya cast at Sunday's Golden Globes and celebrated with Allison Janney after she won for her portrayal of LaVona Golden, Harding's mother.
"She was overwhelmed by the movie," Janney told ET's Kevin Frazier of Harding's reaction to the critically acclaimed film. "I think she's having a great moment. I think she loves it and I think she should because the movie tells a more nuanced side of her story."
Janney added, "It's much more complicated then what we first thought when this incident happened back in the '90s."
Check out more of our exclusive interview with the Golden Globe winner:
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