Tonya Maxene Price is an American former figure skater, retired boxer, and a reality television personality. Born in Portland, Oregon, Harding was raised primarily by her mother, who enrolled her in ice skating lessons beginning at three years old.
Meet LaVona Fay Golden and Al Harding
Tonya was born in Portland, Oregon, to LaVonya Golden and Albert Gordon Harding. Her father passed away at his home in Tillamook on April 1, 2009. He was 76.
According to his obituary, Albert Harding was a member of the US Air Force for over 8 years. In his retirement, he practiced fishing and hunting. His obituary reads, “Al loved his family and many close friends very much. He had a great sense of humor and kept his friends and family entertained with his true-life stories.”
Harding and her mother have very different recollections of Tonya’s childhood. The Olympic figure skater has held that she was abused since childhood. She even says her mother once threw a steak knife at her. “I don’t think that there was more than one day a week, sometimes, that I didn’t get beaten,” she is quoted as saying.