For one shining moment, Tonya Harding was the greatest figure skater in the world, a smiling ice princess swathed in sequins and glory. She won her first national championship in 1991, when, at the age of 20, she became the first woman ever to pull off a triple axel jump in competition.

After a “roller-coaster life” that she says includes a childhood of abuse at the hands of her mother and a rape at gunpoint by her husband and two other men — a roller coaster that took her from the pinnacle of sports stardom to turmoil and ignominy — Tonya Harding says she’s at peace.

Harding’s parents had slender financial means, and saw her as a way to success and a comfortable life. Her mother, LaVona Harding Golden, used physical punishment as a motivational tool, Harding said.

“There were so many times when my mother would be upset with me because I didn't skate good and drag me off the ice by my hair, take me to the bathroom, and beat my butt until it was black and blue,” Harding wrote.

Harding said that skating was her only retreat, her only safe place as a child. “The only thing I could look forward to was stepping out on the ice. That was my sanctuary. That’s where I felt the best and I actually felt good about me, no matter what anybody said to me.”

Harding has been plagued by financial problems ever since she was banned from skating and her life unraveled so publicly.