SALON

Friday, Dec 21, 2012 1:40 PM UTC

Former track Olympian found to be leading double life as an escort

World-class athlete Suzy Favor Hamilton says that she made "a huge mistake"

By

Topics: suzy favor hamilton, runner, athlete, olympian, Sex Scandal, Sex,

Former track Olympian found to be leading double life as an escort (Credit: Maksim Shmeljov/Shutterstock)

With endorsements from Nike, Reebok and Clairol, three-time U.S. Olympian Suzy Favor-Hamilton was a household name in the early 2000s, considered to be the top female runner in the U.S. at the time. Now, The Smoking Gun has uncovered that most decorated female athlete in NCAA track and field history has been leading a double life as a high-priced call girl since December of last year.

Favor-Hamilton, 44, had been working for the illegal Haley Heston’s Private Collection operation under the alias “Kelly Lundy,” in various cities across the U.S., including Las Vegas, Chicago and Los Angeles, while simultaneously running a real estate brokerage in Madison, Wis. with her college-sweetheart-turned husband and their 7 year-old daughter. Favor-Hamilton, who also delivers motivational speeches and does promotional work for Disney, described her call-girl life as an “exciting” break from her routine.

Until recently, only Favor Hamilton’s husband, Mark, knew about her other life. “He tried, he tried to get me to stop. He wasn’t supportive of this at all,” she said. But rumors began to spread after she naively revealed her true identity to several clients. After a reporter confronted her, she expressed deep regret for her actions, saying, “I take full responsibility for my mistakes. I’m not the victim and I’m not going that route.” She added, “Everybody in this world makes mistakes. I made a huge mistake. Huge.”

Favor-Hamilton attributes her desire to work as an escort to depression and mental health issues, for which she is currently receiving treatment. The athlete has taken to Twitter to express her thoughts and reactions, now that the story has broken:

The Smoking Gun reports, however, that Favor Hamilton was already considering leaving Haley Heston before the story broke, telling several of her clients that “I’m not doing this anymore and I’m moving on with my life.”

Prachi Gupta is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on pop culture. Follow her on Twitter at @prachigu or email her at pgupta@salon.com. More Prachi Gupta.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 32 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations