Tonya Harding dishing on 1994 attack on figure skater Nancy Kerrigan

Credit: Pascal Rondeau

Credit: Pascal Rondeau

Former champion figure skater Tonya Harding is opening up about her childhood and the moment she went down in infamy after the 1994 attack on rival figure skater and Olympic medalist Nancy Kerrigan.

>> Read more trending news

Kerrigan was attacked two days before the Olympics trials by Shane Stant, who was paid $6,500 by Harding’s bodyguard, Shawn Eckardt.

Stant, Eckardt and Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly were all charged in connection with whacking Kerrigan on the knee in Detroit.

Harding eventually admitted that she withheld information from the police during the investigation.

After her confession, she was subsequently banned for life from the U.S. Figure Skating Association and U.S. Championships. She was also ordered to pay a fine of $160,000, serve 500 hours of community service and was given three years probation.

>> Related: People are losing it over how Kristi Yamaguchi wished fellow former figure skater Nancy Kerrigan good luck ahead of her “DWTS” debut

Ahead of the premiere of the new biopic, "I, Tonya," Harding will sit down for a 2-hour interview with ABC's Amy Robach in early January and told the corespondent that the media made her out to be the bad guy from the start.

“The media had me convicted of doing something wrong before I had even done anything at all,” she said in a preview clip.

"I am always the bad person. Is it a challenge from the Lord to see how far I can be pushed until I break and become nothing? You can't push me that far anymore, because I have been nothing and I have been nothing several times."

“Truth and Lies: The Tonya Harding Story” airs on ABC on Jan. 11 at 9 p.m. ET.

About the Author