Mary Lou Retton briefly appeared in a court docket Tuesday to enter a no-contest plea for driving beneath the affect in her West Virginia hometown final month, and adopted up with a public assertion, apologizing for the “completely unacceptable” actions that led to her arrest.
“I take full responsibility for my actions,” the U.S. gymnastics legend mentioned in her assertion about her Might 17 arrest, TMZ reported. “What happened was completely unacceptable. I make no excuses. To my family, friends and my fans: I have let you down, and for that I am deeply sorry.”
The 57-year-old Olympic champion additionally mentioned she’s “determined to learn and grow from this experience, and I am committed to making positive changes in my life.”
Retton was arrested on Might 17 in Fairmont, West Virginia, the place she was born in 1968. Whereas she is presently primarily based in Texas, she was visiting Fairmont for some motive and seen in a Porsche, “driving all over the roadway,” based on court docket paperwork, obtained by the Every day Mail.
Retton then pulled over at an AutoZone, the place police contacted her in her still-running luxurious sports activities automobile. Police later mentioned there was an “odor of alcohol” coming from her, the Every day Mail reported. Retton additionally slurred her phrases and had a bottle of wine on the passenger seat subsequent to her.
Courtroom data additionally present that she failed all three phases of a typical subject sobriety textual content, the Every day Mail mentioned. She refused to undergo a roadside preliminary breath check, in addition to a secondary chemical check of her blood. She was charged with one depend of “driving under influence of alcohol, controlled substances, or drugs,” then launched after she personally posted a $1,500 bond.
Retton’s arrest continues a tumultuous couple years for the embellished athlete and media persona, who was as soon as thought of to be America’s sweetheart after successful the person all-around gold medal on the 1984 Summer time Olympics in Los Angeles.
Final yr, Retton additionally was concerned in a tragic and messy controversy over how she, a reported multimillionaire, wanted to boost practically $500,000 in donations by claiming she didn’t have medical insurance to cowl the prices of a hospital keep for what was described as a uncommon and near-fatal bout of pneumonia.
Retton’s 4 daughters arrange the fundraiser on spotfund.com in October 2023, saying they wanted assist to cowl their mom’s hospital payments. They revealed that Retton was within the hospital “fighting for her life” and mentioned they wanted the cash as a result of their mom didn’t have medical insurance.
Whereas the marketing campaign earned $200,000 in its first day — and $459,000 complete — some within the public and the media started to ask why somebody as well-known and, presumably, as rich as Retton didn’t have medical insurance.
Retton’s Might arrest is bound so as to add to questions on what’s occurred lately to the embellished athlete and media persona who as soon as got here as near anybody to defining the thought of America’s sweetheart.
In her assertion Tuesday, Retton mentioned she’s “determined to learn and grow from this experience, and I am committed to making positive changes in my life.”
Two months after Retton’s well being disaster, she sat for an interview with the “Today” present in early 2024, saying that the “bottom line” is that she couldn’t afford medical insurance. She blamed her plight on the COVID-19 pandemic, her 2018 divorce and pre-existing circumstances from a number of surgical procedures through the years from sports-related accidents.
In one other interview, Retton additionally defended her daughters in opposition to the backlash, saying, “They didn’t deserve that.” She additionally mentioned, “They were just trying to take care of me. I don’t care about the naysayers. There are trolls everywhere. It’s what makes us America. Everybody’s got an opinion, but it is what it is.”
However criticism continued to develop over the view that Retton and her daughters nonetheless had not been forthcoming about her monetary challenges, her causes for not having insurance coverage and the way they used the $459,000 from the spotfund.com marketing campaign.
The Every day Mail subsequently obtained court docket data, which confirmed that Retton acquired $2 million in her 2018 divorce settlement from former Texas Longhorns quarterback-turned actual property developer Shannon Kelly. She additionally was poised to probably earn $2 million extra in compensation over a authorized dispute with the producer of two metallic hip replacements that went improper, the Every day Mail reported.
