Things are not always as they seem on the surface. In the case of Suzy Favor Hamilton, they were the exact opposite of what one would expect.
Favor Hamilton was a nine-time NCAA title winner at Wisconsin as a middle-distance runner. She was so incredible in college the Big Ten named its Athlete of the Year award after her. She competed in three different Olympics from 1992-2000, and she was the US record holder in the 1,000 meters. She was featured in commercials and magazines, and she seemed to transition into a normal life after athletics.
Favor Hamilton owns a real estate company with her husband in Madison, Wis., and she serves as a motivational speaker. She has a daughter, does promotional work for Disney, and she continues to run. But the truth is her life was nothing like it appeared on the surface.
The Smoking Gun dropped a bombshell report on Thursday that outed Favor Hamilton as a high-priced escort who has spent the past year working for an escort company called Haley Heston’s Private Collection.
Favor Hamilton went by the name “Kelly Lundy” and apparently was so good at her job she charged $600 per hour and $6,000 for 24 hours. She had worked her way up to third in The Erotic Review’s Las Vegas standings (ed note: they keep stats on EVERYTHING these days, don’t they?). But one of her biggest mistakes in working as a high-priced escort (read: prostitute) was that she would disclose her real identity to clients. That’s apparently how the word got back to The Smoking Gun about her illegal side gig.
What’s incredible is that the 44-year-old runner remained married to her 44-year-old husband, who was aware of her escort work.
“He tried, he tried to get me to stop. He wasn’t supportive of this at all,” Favor Hamilton told The Smoking Gun.
By now you have to be wondering what could possibly drive a married, successful former Olympian and mother of one to the world of high-priced prostitution. Favor Hamilton seemed to indicate it was a mid-life crisis type of response during a difficult time in her life.
“I realize I have made highly irrational choices and I take full responsibility for them,” she wrote on Twitter Thursday after the story broke. “I am not a victim here and knew what I was doing. I was drawn to escorting in large part because it provided many coping mechanisms for me when I was going through a very challenging time with my marriage and my life. It provided an escape from a life that I was struggling in. It was a double life. I do not expect people to understand, but the reasons for doing this made sense to me at the time and were very much related to depression. As crazy as I know it seems, I never thought I would be exposed, therefore never hurting anybody.”
Favor Hamilton went through a depression after giving birth, and has battled depression since her youth. That may be the root of her chasing the wild side life. She realizes she has some serious mental issues to work out.
“I have been seeking the help of a psychologist for the past few weeks and will continue to do so after I have put things together. I cannot emphasize enough how sorry I am to anyone I have hurt as a result of my actions and greatly appreciate the support from family and those closest to me. I fully intend to make amends and get back to being a good mother, wife, daughter, and friend.”
Well, hell, if this ain’t the most astonishing story we’ve covered this year, then I don’t know what is.
We highly encourage you to read the entire report from The Smoking Gun on the world’s most improbable hooker.
If there is one takeaway from this entire story that I have, it’s who the heck can afford $600 an hour for a prostitute? And if they had that kind of scratch, wouldn’t they have picked something better? I guess that just comes down to a matter of personal preference.
Below is video of the controversial Nike commercial Favor Hamilton appeared in that ran during the 2000 Games:
Photo via The Smoking Gun
