What is Tonya Harding's Ex Husband Doing Now?

By Jayson Panganiban August 26, 2024 01:33

Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock

The 1990s villain we all loved to hate was Jeff Gillooly, later known as Jeff Stone. He was the ex-husband of figure skater Tonya Harding and the man behind a shocking attack on her top competitor, Nancy Kerrigan. Since those turbulent events, Stone's life has changed to put the spotlight and scandal further behind him. So, with how his life started and what he has gone through in it, this is what Jeff Stone is like today.

Jeff Gillooly to Jeff Stone Transformation

After serving time in prison for his involvement in the Nancy Kerrigan Attack in 1994, which he later said was carried out at Harding's urging, Jeff Gillooly chose to step back from it all. He legally changed his name to Jeff Stone and was released from prison in March 1995. It was his first foray into rebuilding himself and becoming a new person, free from the headlines of 1994.

Current Occupation and Career

After getting out of prison, Jeff Stone went low-key with his career, rumored to have landed a job selling used cars. It was a stark departure from his previous work in professional figure skating and the entertainment industry. That being said, exact details on his current employment or any future career changes remain scarce, but Stone looks to be continuing in automotive sales.

Residence and Lifestyle

There is very little information about the location of Jeff Stone, probably because he may not have preferred details. Because he had ties to Portland in the past, it seemed like there's a possibility that he still lived as of last year.

Highlight Events and Life Updates

If there will always be one major flash point in the post-Tonya Harding era of Jeff Stone's life, it was his getting involved with planning but not executing/lending an alibi for the Nancy Kerrigan bystander attack and its aftermath. This resulted in his imprisonment, and eventually, his name change. It was in these moments that everything took shape.

After that, Stone completely quit the public view, unlike his ex-wife, Tonya Harding, who has made periodic appearances in the media and even on reality TV shows, Stone kept a low profile and did not seek to cash in on infamy.

Sight of Relationships and Family in the Now

We do not know if he has ever completely remarried or sired children since his divorce from Tonya. Being secretive about his private life, it is a saga that he has managed to keep them far away from the media.

Hobbies, Activities, and Other Interests

Since there's relatively little public information about Jeff, it makes it difficult to say what his interests or hobbies may be. But his profession in car sales could suggest an interest in cars. Other hobbies or interests he may have cultivated during that time will remain private.

Impact on Public Perception

For all these years, Jeff Stone's name has been forever tied to Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan by fate. Yet his conspicuous withdrawal from the public stage has led to a dwindling of his image in the popular imagination. While some, amid a major scandal, rush to keep their name recognition up, Stone seems to be chewing on anonymity.

Lessons and Legacy

A tragic caveat to the message is that Jeff Stone is a story warning that mistakes will follow you for all your days and that sometimes it may be too little, too late to get back what was lost after such a public mishap. The fact that he stayed out of the limelight for decades following the event suggests a willingness on his part to understand where things went wrong and perhaps take those lessons in another, more constructive direction.

Although he has remained private about the specifics of his lifestyle since his release, they suggest a man who has turned away from that part of his life. He is a reminder that, for better or worse, our actions stay with us long after we choose them and that one can always attempt to amend one's past behavior.

With more time since the trial, much of Jeff Stone's life today remains a mystery to most people, but it's nothing like his unwanted fame at the time. It appears he has intentionally tried to cultivate this privacy to try to move on from the things that once stood him in public view.