Mary Lou Retton addresses backlash to medical bills crowdfund: ‘Everybody’s got an opinion’
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — Former Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton said her health is still in recovery after a scare that left her fighting for her life in the ICU last fall.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, Retton, 56, said that she is still on oxygen and is trying to be patient as she continues to recover. She developed a rare form of pneumonia back in October and spent several weeks in an intensive care unit in Texas.
While Retton was hospitalized, her daughters set up a crowdfunding page to help raise money for their mother’s medical bills. They said she did not have health insurance.
The fund was widely supported by more than 8,000 individual donors. It raised more than $200,000 in a day and nearly $500,000 to date. However, it was also criticized, with many people questioning how a former Olympic gold medalist and “America’s sweetheart” could possibly not have insurance.
In the Entertainment Tonight interview, Retton addressed the backlash, saying that the COVID-19 pandemic affected her work, which involved a lot of public speaking engagements.
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“I mean, it’s not like it used to be. The height of my fame was years ago and I was doing enough to make it, doing enough to pay my bills,” she said. “And then COVID hit, and the divorce took half of everything.”
Retton and ex-husband Shannon Kelly divorced in 2018 after 27 years of marriage, People reported.
Retton said in a previous interview with NBC TODAY in January that the cost of insurance was also very high because of her many previous sports-related operations.
For those questioning the authenticity of the crowdfund, Retton said she doesn’t “go down those rabbit holes.”
“I don’t care about the naysayers,” she told Entertainment Tonight. “There are trolls everywhere. It’s what makes us America: Everybody’s got an opinion.”
She said the $460,000 raised is only going toward paying her medical bills, which she said are “still coming in,” and any remaining funds will be donated to the American Lung Association.
Retton credited her daughters and God for getting her through her illness.
“You’re welcome to your opinion, but you weren’t in that situation. My daughters stepped up to the plate, and they saved my life and all the love and support saved my life,” she said.
She said she’s now covered by health insurance, and expects to be on supplemental oxygen for another year.
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Retton was 16 when she became an icon of the U.S. Olympic movement during her gold medal-winning performance at the 1984 Summer Games. The native of Fairmont, West Virginia, also won two silver and two bronze medals at those Olympics to help bring gymnastics — a sport long dominated by Eastern European powers like Romania and the Soviet Union — into the mainstream in the U.S.
After her success on the world’s biggest stage, Retton appeared as herself in some television series and movies, including “Scrooged,” “Baywatch,” and “Knots Landing,” according to her IMDb page. Under President George W. Bush, she served on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, in addition to several Olympic and gymnastics ambassador roles.
She is considered one of West Virginia’s most famous athletes of all time and has a road and park named after her in her hometown of Fairmont.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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