EXCLUSIVE: Olympic Hero Mary Lou Retton Cried 'I Should Be Dead' After Pneumonia Battle That Left 'Lungs Scarred' Months Before DUI Arrest
Mary Lou Retton is in the news again... but not for the right reasons.
May 27 2025, Published 7:00 p.m. ET
Mary Lou Retton found herself fighting for her life at the hospital just months before getting cuffed and charged with a DUI, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The Olympic hero, now 57, barely survived a bout of pneumonia in 2024, as her daughters launched a fundraiser to help their famous mom with her stack of medical bills.
A Brush With Death
Retton was arrested and charged with a DUI earlier this month.
At the time, after spending a month at the hospital, Retton sat down with Hoda Kotb on Today to discuss how close she came to dying.
"I should be dead," the gold medalist said during the interview.
Retton, who had to be intubated because she couldn’t breathe, recalled: “The doctors told (my four daughters) to come to say their goodbyes.
"They prayed over me, and (my daughter) McKenna, said, ‘Mommy, it’s OK, you can go. I didn’t have much of a relationship with my mother, but I can’t imagine what that was like, to watch their mom on her deathbed."
Retton is best known for winning five medals at the 1984 Olympics.
Despite the nightmare situation, the former athlete pulled through, but not without some brutal consequences.
"It's been really hard," she told Kotb. "My lungs are so scarred. It will be a lifetime of recovery. My physicality was the only thing I had, and it was taken away from me. It's embarrassing... I'll never be the same."
Retton did not have health insurance, but her children set up an online fundraiser that reeled in close to $460,000. “(They) stepped up to the plate and they saved my life,” she said.
'They Didn't Deserve That'
However, Retton's daughters – Shayla, McKenna, Skyla, and Emma – felt the wrath of social media for the fundraiser, but the ex-gymnast hit back in an interview: "They didn’t deserve that. They were just trying to take care of me.
“I don’t care about the naysayers. There are trolls everywhere. It’s what makes us America. Everybody’s got an opinion.”
Retton added: "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."
Retton nearly died in a bout with pneumonia months before her arrest.
While Retton was clear about how much damage her lungs took due to her pneumonia, she was still arrested on a DUI charge earlier this month in West Virginia.
According to court reports, the Dancing With the Stars alum was booked on one count of "driving under the influence of alcohol, controlled substances, or drugs; penalties."
She was said to have been “driving all over the roadway” heading toward downtown in the area.
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The 57-year-old is said to have been 'driving all over the roadway' before her arrest.
When Fairmont Police Department officers made contact with Retton, “the odor of alcohol was emitting from her person,” and she was slurring her words.
According to the officers on site, they also noticed a “screw top container of wine” in the passenger seat of Retton’s vehicle. The complaint noted the Olympian had signs of impairment on all three phases of a field sobriety test.
Retton was issued a personal recognizance bond of $1,500, which she posted that same day.
