Tonya Harding Playing as a Victim.
BANFIELD: She was everywhere for all the wrong reasons. Tonya Harding became a national headline, and then a national punch line for her role in the 1994 attack on her Olympic skating rival Nancy Kerrigan. Her life has spiraled downwards ever since. Amid a culture that has vilified her. But now, a new movie and an ABC special have catapulted Tonya back into the news. And just may be changing what some people think of her.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was the best figure skater in the world at one point in time.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You call that a clean skate? Stop talking to her. That girl is your enemy.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who is that?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeff was my first date ever. And my mom came.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You need to see a wholesome American family.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t have a wholesome American family.</s>BANFIELD: The movie is a sympathetic look at the very hard life of abuse and rejection that Tonya endured before the notorious assault that got her kicked out of skating. She always maintained that she knew nothing in advance of a plot to attack Nancy Kerrigan and eliminate her from completion. That it was the half-witted conspiracy between her husband, her ex-husband and three others. But then came this jaw dropping admission on ABC last week.</s>TONYA HARDING, FORMER SKATER: I knew something was up.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You never said to Jeff let`s do this?</s>HARDING: No, I did however overhear them talking about stuff, well, maybe we should take somebody out, so we can make sure she gets on the team. I go, what the hell are you talking about?</s>BANFIELD: Well, what the hell, indeed? The cling lights have been all over Tonya including a front row seat at Sunday night`s Golden Globes. Little tour down the red carpet and a nod from the stage by actress Allison Janney who played her mom in the movie.</s>ALLISON JANNEY, ACTRESS: Tonya Harding is here tonight. And I just -- I`d like to thank Tonya for sharing her story with Steve and allowing him to tell all the different sides of the story, and what I love about this movie. What this entire Sebastian, Julian, everyone in this movie did, is tell a story about class in America. Tell a story about the disenfranchised. Tell a story about woman who was not embraced for her individuality. Tell a story about truth, and the perception of truth in the media.</s>BANFIELD: But with the return to the spotlight comes the hard questions, especially from Piers Morgan on his morning show, iTV`s "Good Morning Britain" where Tonya nearly walked off the set.</s>HARDING: I respect you for trying to ask these questions. However, I`m really here just to talk about the future and what it means -- my movie now, to me is going to help so many people to realize that it is OK to ask for help. It took me so long to be able to ask for someone to help me.</s>PIERS MORGAN, TV ANCHOR, GOOD MORNING BRITAIN: Tonya, let me interrupt you for a moment.</s>HARDING: That`s why I`m here speaking to you today.</s>MORGAN: Maybe it suits you to play the victim. The victim in all this wasn`t you. It was Nancy Kerrigan, who had her Olympic dream shattered. Quite literally.</s>HARDING: I believe we all -- thank you so much. I appreciate being on your show, but I think I`m going to have to say, have a good night.</s>BANFIELD: So it looked like she was going to leave, but she didn`t. At least not at that moment anyway. I want to bring in CNN sports analyst and "USA Today" sports columnist Christine Brennan. She was there at the U.S. nationals in 1994 when Nancy Kerrigan was attacked. Also I want to bring in Jennifer Peros, an editor for "Us Weekly." Ladies, thank you so much for being here. Christine, first to you. I`m getting a little lost in the whole narrative of Tonya. I`m getting the push pull of watching the film. Tonya, which is unbelievably good. And then seeing Tonya kind of playing the victim again. And I need you to get me on track. Where should we be with Tonya Harding?</s>CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: They talked for some time, the knuckle heads around Tonya, including her knuckle head ex-husband, Ashleigh. They talked about killing Nancy Kerrigan. You don`t see that in the movie. In the movie it`s a letter writing campaign to scare her. Maybe send her death threats. But they actually -- these idiots talked about killing Nancy Kerrigan. And the idea that were all giggling and laughing, yes, there were ridiculous moments in the movie. There were ridiculous moments in the story, 24 years ago. I covered every second of this, every preposterous second. But the idea that now Tonya is some kind of victim or some type of -- being rehabilitated by Hollywood, it is absolutely ridiculous. Tonya Harding said, as you guys of course just alluded to, she said on ABC that she knew something was up. And she didn`t stop it to think. And at same time the Golden Globes where they are talking about #metoo and the assault of women, that Allison Janney is up there actually thanking someone who was involved in the assault on Nancy Kerrigan, and the only reason we can laugh about this story so many years later, is because this was the gang that couldn`t shoot straight, and the hit man, the so-called hit man, Ashleigh, missed Nancy Kerrigan`s kneecap, and hit her on the knee, on the side of the knee, and bruised her knee, the most famous bruise in the history of sports. And Nancy was able to recover and win the silver medal. If they had done their job properly, this would have been a horror story. And the idea that Tonya is now being celebrated is just absolutely ridiculous.</s>BANFIELD: So this all comes back to this, you know, the movie lionizing her and then the ABC interview where she -- for whatever, I don`t know why, kind of let`s that slip out that she overheard her them talking in advance. That maybe they would take somebody else. What the hell, she said. I want to like butt that up to -- the full question, did she snow? Because Piers Morgan asked specifically, so did you know? And here is her very definitive answer. Have a look.</s>MORGAN: You did know? You did know what they were planning to know, didn`t you?</s>HARDING: No, I did not know anything prior. I did find out after the fact.</s>MORGAN: You didn`t have any knowledge at all, by pure coincidence this guy you had been married to was going to attack Nancy Kerrigan?</s>HARDING: No. Not prior.</s>MORGAN: OK.</s>HARDING: No, I did not.</s>BANFIELD: And Christine, that has been the answer for 24 years. So my question is this. She plead guilty to the after the fact, cleaning up the mess, you know. She has done her time. She was kicked out of the skating forever. Why is it that</s>BRENNAN: Because she was in the same house and basically the same kitchen table where they were planning this fiasco of a plan. And also, a key moment which you do see in the movie is where she is calling a judge to get the location where Nancy trained. And that`s where this silly -- called Tony Kent arena on Cape Cod is where Nancy Kerrigan trained. And Tonya ridiculously wrote down toony can arena which is a laugh out loud moment, it`s real. But why was Tonya getting the location, again, the movie has you thinking they are going to write letters. Well, then, in totally confusing you, if you are trying to get the facts in this movie, is then you have the hit man, of course, going to Tony Kent Arena and driving around and moving his car in the parking lot, which is again, very funny. But the point of that is, the hit man was there to attack Nancy Kerrigan. And Tonya Harding absolutely got the address and gave it to Jeff Gillooly so that the hit man could go.</s>BANFIELD: Those notes were found, if I remember correctly. Those notes were found in the trash can and they were Tonya Harding`s handwriting, the arena. And not only that. The practice time for Nancy Kerrigan in Tonya Harding`s handwriting. So there were seemed to be so much evidence of collusion. And yet, she didn`t get convicted of that. She plead to, you know, obstructing afterwards. Let me just bring up this one moment. Because it all sort of falls back on Hollywood now. A quarter century later, as to how they are narrating this story for the under 35s. And there is this one moment I think that stood out, about how nasty Tonya`s mother was which is why Allison Janney won that award. She was unbelievable in the role. But this is a scene that I think really nails it down for how crappy Tonya`s life was leading up to this assault. Have a look.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you -- when I was a kid, did you ever love me or anything?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You think Sonja Henie`s mother loved her? Poor (bleep) you. I didn`t stay home making apple brown Bettys, no. I made you a champion, knowing you would hate me for it. That`s the sacrifice a mother makes. I wish I had a mother like me instead of nice. Nice gets you shit. I didn`t like my mother either. So what? I gave you a gift.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You cursed me. You are a monster.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Spilled milk, baby.</s>BANFIELD: Jennifer, I`m trying to figure out where Hollywood may have gone off track with this. Because it is clear Tonya`s life was the pits. And that is good to know because it does gives us retrospective and some context for what happened. But what happened, happened. And that doesn`t go away. But I`m feeling is though the movie is making it go away. Am I wrong?</s>JENNIFER PEROS, EDITOR, US WEEKLY: No, absolutely not. Listen. This movie was just one sided, right? We know from many people sponsored the film that they did not have Nancy or her team`s cooperation with the story. They did not help with the movie. So really, this movie is just one sided, right. We don`t hear from both sides. And also, I mean, listen, a lot of people are calling this movie fictional, it was a well-done movie. And it`s a great performance by, of course, Margot Robbie and Allison Janney. It was, of course, nominated for five BAFTA Awards. But, yes, I do think it is a little strange how you have all these actresses now doing the international press tour praising Tonya Harding.</s>ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HLN HOST: The red carpet felt weird.</s>PEROS: I actually -- I did not know that Tonya was going to be there. And the second that I saw her on a pre-show, and I was like, wow! They actually brought her here to this night, such an historic Golden Globes night, where like Christine said earlier, you have women standing next to women protesting against harassment and abuse and violence in Hollywood. And here she is on the carpet.</s>BANFIELD: It got even weirder because of what she just accidentally said to ABC last week. Well, I heard something in advance, which really put her into the conspiracy, which doesn`t give her the benefit of what the movie suggests, I knew nothing, I heard nothing. This happened outside of my purview. So, to see her sort of walk up on the red carpet, and then bask in the -- like I said, the glow of Allison Janney`s comments. I get what Allison Janney was saying, I get it.</s>PEROS: I do, too.</s>BANFIELD: But to direct them at Tonya, and give her this moment, I just -- I think I`m with Christine on this one, it made me feel a little -- it made me feel a little sick. And by the way, what`s Nancy`s reaction, anything? Is it like crickets?</s>PEROS: So, I literally had e-mailed her team an hour before I came here tonight. And just for even one more comment, she has not issued any statement on this whatsoever. I heard from a source close to Nancy about two months ago, the week that the movie that came out. You know, I asked them, has she seen the movie yet? Is she planning on seeing the movie yet? The answer as of that day was no, I don`t know for a fact if she`s seen it yet, I doubt she probably will. But, yes, I agree, you know, especially considering that Allison Janney has, what, a minute total to stand up there for her acceptance speech.</s>BANFIELD: She could say anything.</s>PEROS: And she said -- she could say anything, she could thank anybody from her family, her team, and she spent so long just praising Tonya for being so brave for sharing her side of the story. And then, again, to see Margot and Allison doing all the press around the tour, thanking Tonya for sharing her story and kind of doing her a favor.</s>BANFIELD: Yes. I liked her story, I liked -- I always knew she was tough, you know, she was the tough slugging, you know, underdog, but to celebrate her in this way just is really -- I do want to mention this, which I find really fascinating. Apparently, Tonya is on the ice, she says every week still trying to keep in shape. She`s been banned from skating. Christine, can you answer -- if you`re still with me, can you answer me this question real quick, is there any way that she could have her lifetime ban reversed? If she could find a sympathetic judge somewhere? Could that happen?</s>CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: No, because it was U.S. figure skating that banned her, and rightly so. She brought the worst scandal on the history of the sport into the sport. She brought it movie or no movie.</s>BANFIELD: She charged right into it.</s>BRENNAN: Oh, no, absolutely. And also, she`s 47 years old. So, there`s --</s>BANFIELD: Well, she could coach.</s>BRENNAN: Well -- and by the way, she can coach. And she`s been able to -- she skated in a Reno minor league hockey game. And she did have comebacks, she couldn`t do sanctioned events. She could absolutely skate and no one is interested, of course, otherwise, they already would have had --</s>BANFIELD: I`m interested. I`m sorry to say, I am so fascinated by this story still. Thank you to both of you, Jennifer and Christine, I appreciate it.</s>BRENNAN: Thank you. Thanks.</s>BANFIELD: A frantic 911 call from the mom of a missing 2-week-old infant.</s>DISPATCH: What`s the emergency.</s>COURTNEY BELL, MOTHER OF CALIYAH: I just woke up, my daughter woke me up from the coach. I have a 2-year-old and I have a 2-week-old. And my 2-week- old is not in her sleeper, her passy is on the floor.</s>DISPATCH: She`s not in her sleeper.</s>BANFIELD: But that baby is not missing, that baby was found in a bag in the woods. And police are trying to figure out now who killed that newborn.