Former Olympic Gymnast Mary Lou Retton Addresses DUI Arrest: ‘I Make No Excuses'
Following her arrest last month for driving under the influence, four-time Olympic gold medalist Mary Lou Retton said she takes 'full responsibility' for her actions.
'What happened was completely unacceptable. I make no excuses,' she said in a statement to the Associated Press. 'To my family, friends and my fans: I have let you down, and for that I am deeply sorry. I am determined to learn and grow from this experience, and I am committed to making positive changes in my life. I truly appreciate your concern, encouragement and continued support.'
More from Rolling Stone
Macklemore's Seattle Home Robbed, Nanny Sprayed With Bear Mace
'How Much Does My Body Cost?': Sean Combs' Ex Faces Fiery Cross-Examination
Lil Durk Denied Bail Again in Murder-for-Hire Case
On Tuesday, Retton entered a no contest plea to driving under the influence stemming from the May incident and was fined $100, a standard for first-time, non-aggravated offenses, her attorney Edmund J. Rollo told the outlet.
Retton was arrested in West Virginia on May 17 after police in Fairmont pulled her over following a report of a person driving a Porsche erratically. According to a criminal complaint, the former athlete smelled of alcohol, was slurring her words, and failed a field sobriety test. Officers also allegedly saw a wine container in the passenger seat.
Retton was charged with 'driving under influence of alcohol, controlled substances, or drugs,' and released from custody after paying a $1,500 personal recognizance bond.
At 16, Retton became the first American woman to win the all-around gold medal in gymnastics at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Retton has been retired for more than 30 years, having left after winning the American Cup all-around competition for the third time in 1985.
In October 2023, the Dancing with the Stars alum was hospitalized in the ICU with a rare form of pneumonia. Retton previously detailed the severity of her illness in an interview with Today. 'This is serious, and this is life, and I'm so grateful to be here. I am blessed to be here because there was a time when they were about to put me on life support,' Retton shared.
Best of Rolling Stone
Every Super Bowl Halftime Show, Ranked From Worst to Best
The United States of Weed
Gaming Levels Up
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Professor: Los Angeles …You Are Becoming The Exact Thing Trump Needed
Hate to say this but Los Angeles…you're not helping. Before you get mad and turn off your phone, let me explain. Last week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents (ICE) arrested 118 immigrants during operations in L.A. Since then, protests have erupted in the city that Mayor Karen Bass says has turn the entire metropolitan area into a 'tinderbox.' In one confrontation, police employed tear gas and pepper spray as protestors gathered outside a detention center on Sunday. President Trump said he would deploy 2,000 National Guard soldiers to respond to the protests. In a post on Truth Social, Trump attacked what he called 'Radical Left protests' by 'instigators and often paid troublemakers.' OK. Listen. We are all sympathetic to the reason why these protests are happening. Treating immigrants this way is not American. This country is unique in that it is one made up of people from other countries. But…these riots and protests? They are doing nothing but distracting us from the sneaky sh*t Trump is doing right in front of our faces. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed by the House in May, includes tax cuts, spending cuts, and policy changes that would devastate many Americans, especially Black folks. It would strip millions of heath care and drive many people who look like us into crippling debt. Then there is the travel ban that Trump unsuccessfully tried to implement in his first term that he has gotten little to no resistance on in this second one. People were marching in the streets outraged in 2016, now he has implemented it with little to no pushback. And even though Trump has fallen out with Elon Musk, DOGE is still running roughshod through the federal government. Just a few days ago, the department got access to our SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS. (Yes. Had to write it like that because it is a big f**kin' deal.) That means that they have all our sensitive data which is…great. And all the while, Black folks are still being killed by police. Health outcomes of Black people are worse now because public health research is dwindling. And even the wigs and weave will go up because of Trump's Tariffs. So, look. We are with you, Los Angeles. We support your anger. But all these violent clashes with ICE agents and the police? You are exactly the kind of distraction Trump has been needing so he can do what he wants without anyone noticing.
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
LA Riots Hand Republicans Script for Midterms
The masked man on the motorcycle, the one who waved a Mexican flag in front of a torched car as Los Angeles police stood by, will soon be famous. His identity remains unknown, his image iconic - but for all the wrong reasons. Republicans will replay the clip again and again in campaign ads ahead of the midterms. "This lawlessness is exactly what Americans rejected in 2024," said Michael Whatley, chairman of the Republican National Committee. "While Democrats sow chaos, Republicans stand as the party of law and order." President Trump is delivering on his campaign promise to crack down on illegal immigration, Whatley told RealClearPolitics, and ahead of the midterms, his party "will continue to run on this winning message and finish the job for the American people." As National Guard were being deployed to quell violence in California, Republicans were mobilizing to capture and catalog video of looting, rioting, and violence. One RNC official told RCP they were struggling to capture the flood of content coming across cable news. "It was just non-stop," they said. "There was so much." That content from the LA riots will soon provide fodder for the contrast Republicans hope to paint in November of next year, illustrating the failed immigration policies they allege California Gov. Gavin Newsom now embodies. For his part, Newsom blames Trump for inflaming an already "combustible situation." Los Angeles became ground zero for the Trump administrations immigration crackdown Saturday when ICE agents launched a series of raids across the city. Protests followed. Some of the demonstrations have been peaceful. The ones getting wall-to-wall news coverage, however, were not. Demonstrators hurled rocks, firework shells, and Molotov cocktails at police. Vandalism and looting ensued, prompting Trump to order 2,000 National Guardsmen to the city without the approval of the California governor. Newsom quickly condemned the move as a "blatant abuse of power" that puts the nation on a path to authoritarianism. "Trump is pulling a military dragnet all across Los Angeles," Newsom said in a speech delivered from an LA studio Tuesday, as the city remains under a curfew ordered by Mayor Karen Bass. "Well beyond his stated intent to just go after violent and serious criminals, his agents are arresting dishwashers, gardeners, day laborers and seamstresses." "California may be first, but it clearly wont end here," the governor said. "Other states are next. Democracy is next." The White House already saw the riots as an opportunity to paint Democrats as hapless in the face of lawlessness. After the governors speech, they were overjoyed to have that fight with Newsom. "Democrats are not even choosing the 20 on 80-20 issues," a White House official told RCP. "Theyre choosing the 10 on 90-10 issues." The situation in Los Angeles could be perilous for Democrats. Newsom has tried to differentiate a violent mob from lawful demonstrators, warning on social media that those "who take advantage of Trumps chaos" will be held accountable, while encouraging those who are "protesting peacefully." The White House, meanwhile, sees nothing but anarchy and is considering invoking the Insurrection Act, a law that grants the president authority to deploy the military on U.S. soil. Asked if he was considering it, Trump told RCP Tuesday in the Oval Office, "We will see." Republicans are betting that voters have already made up their minds. "AI couldnt generate better imagery," said Jesse Hunt, a GOP strategist and former communications director at the National Republican Senatorial Campaign. Trump won the general election, in large part, in reaction to the lax immigration policies of the Biden administration, Hunt told RCP, and the mob violence in LA will capture voter attention ahead of the midterms. "It paints a real picture of which side voters can choose to be on," he said, "public servants enforcing U.S. law in an American city or a violent mob waving another countrys flag." The National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee has already cut a digital spot that will serve as a template for the midterms. Posted on social media Tuesday, the video splices together clips of rock-hurling rioters in the smoke-filled streets of LA with soundbites from Democrats defending the demonstrations as "mostly peaceful protests." The Congressional Leadership Fund, the super PAC aligned with Speaker Mike Johnson and the largest spender in House campaigns, has already argued this week that the riots roiling Los Angeles will continue to spread to other cities. When confronted with that chaos, the group predicted, "Americans will vote accordingly." A new survey commissioned by CLF, obtained by RCP, and conducted by Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio, provides the reasoning for their confidence. The polling of key congressional districts found that on illegal immigration and deportations, 57% favor "hiring nearly 40,000 additional ICE and border patrol agents to address illegal immigration as well as drug and human trafficking." The Republican survey also showed 68% of voters favor funding for the military to support law enforcement "in their fight against drug cartels." The Trump administration remains convinced that the public is on their side. "They are incredibly out of touch with what the vast majority of Americans support," a White House official said of Democrats, telling RCP, "We are going on offense and backing them into the corner of supporting dangerous criminal illegal aliens, violent rioters, and lawless chaos." Susan Crabtree is RealClearPolitics' national political correspondent. & Philip Wegmann is White House correspondent for RealClearPolitics.
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
New Docuseries Reveals the Untold Story of the Idaho Murders
In the early morning of Nov. 13, 2022, four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death in their off campus home. Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were all members of the school's Greek life and beloved by their campus community, which turned the weeks after their murders into a frenzy of national media attention and online speculation surrounding one topic: The Idaho Murders. Despite releasing little information about the investigative process, police in Moscow, Idaho eventually arrested primary suspect Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old criminology graduate student at Washington State University. Now, three years later, with Kohberger's trial finally set to begin in August after numerous delays, filmmakers Matthew Galkin and Liz Garbus are releasing a new Amazon docuseries taking an in depth look at how the people closest to the case dealt with their tragic losses and the media storm that followed them. One Night In Idaho: The College Murders premieres July 11 on Amazon Prime. More from Rolling Stone 5 Things We Learned From 'Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie' Docuseries Mexican Beauty Influencer Shot and Killed on TikTok Live A Bullet Killed Him. AI Brought Him Back to Life in Court Galkin and Garbus first began working on the project in the spring of 2023, doing outreach to the family members that led to a sit down meeting with the Chapin family. Both of the filmmakers are known for past projects that center around the ethical consideration of true crime — including using projects to highlight stories of people on the margins that can typically be ignored by the media and police. (Garbus is perhaps best known for her work on Netflix's Gone Girl: The Long Island Serial Killer — the story of how LISK escaped police capture by targeting young sex workers. Galkin is the director of Showtime miniseries Murder In Big Horn, a series centered on the disappearances and murders of indigenous women in Montana.) The trailer features several interviews from family members and friends closest to the Idaho victims, including the Chapin and Mogen families. 'I've never been involved in a documentary about a case this large and with this many sort of complicated aspects that converge,' Galkin tells Rolling Stone. 'Yeah,' Garbus agrees. 'The whole thing was on steroids in a way I've never seen.' Because the Moscow Police Department gave the public little to no information during their investigation, the national media fury only intensified in online spaces like TikTok's true crime community. Videos about the murders received millions of views, comments, and shares across platforms, with true crime accounts publicly speculating about close friends or people who could have killed the students. Several publicly accused people of the crime, leaving dozens of Idaho students and close friends of victims fearing for their public safety and mental health. Galkin and Garbus tell Rolling Stone they were focused on telling a story that gave viewers an inside look at what was happening behind closed doors. 'In the first conversation with the Chapins, one of the things that truly struck me was their description of being swept up in this circus from the inside. All of the Tiktok videos and hypothesizing and having their son's name dragged through the mud unfairly, obviously, because none of [the conspiracy theories] turned out to be true,' Galkin says. 'I felt like we had never seen that story told from that perspective. Major crime in 2025 has all of these layers of attention and social media and speculation where that didn't exist a few decades ago, but now it's what all of these families have to deal with on a daily basis.' For Garbus, the director says she was focused on unearthing the story that people had missed in the mayhem, avoid sensationalism, and instead giving the families of the victims a chance to tell the world who their loved one actually was — both as a form of memory and as an opportunity to possibly heal. 'What is the side that is untold?' she says. 'At the end of the day, these kids are victims. And their families deserve their stories to be told in fulsome, loving ways.' { pmcCnx({ settings: { plugins: { pmcAtlasMG: { iabPlcmt: 1, }, pmcCnx: { singleAutoPlay: 'auto' } } }, playerId: "d762a038-c1a2-4e6c-969e-b2f1c9ec6f8a", mediaId: "7936b823-4004-4c31-9d66-c2a1c3fe2d78", }).render("connatix_player_7936b823-4004-4c31-9d66-c2a1c3fe2d78_1"); }); Best of Rolling Stone Every Super Bowl Halftime Show, Ranked From Worst to Best The United States of Weed Gaming Levels Up
