Three-time Olympian reveals double life as Vegas escort
Struggling in her marriage and mired in depression, three-time Olympian Suzy Favor Hamilton coped by turning to a life of prostitution, working for an escort service based in Las Vegas.
"I do not expect people to understand," Favor Hamilton wrote Thursday in one of a series of posts to her Twitter account after The Smoking Gun website reported on her double life. "But the reasons for doing this made sense to me at the time and were very much related to depression."
The Smoking Gun said the 44-year-old athlete has been working for the last year for a Las Vegas escort service that booked her for dates there, as well as in Los Angeles, Houston and Chicago.
One of the country's best-ever middle-distance runners, Favor Hamilton competed for the U.S. at the Olympics in 1992, 1996 and 2000 but did not win a medal. She won seven U.S. national titles. She lives in Madison, Wis., where, The Smoking Gun reported, she and her husband, Mark, live in a $600,000 home and appear to be in no financial distress based on the website's review of court and municipal records.
Favor Hamilton told the website that only her husband was aware of her escort work, but that, "He tried, he tried to get me to stop. He wasn't supportive of this at all."
The website reported that Favor Hamilton worked under the alias "Kelly Lundy" but said she told some of her clients about her true identity and suspected one of them outed her.
Soon after the story appeared online, Favor Hamilton released a series of tweets saying in part that she 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."
A nine-time NCAA champion for Wisconsin, Favor Hamilton is the namesake of the Big Ten's Suzy Favor Athlete of the Year Award, given to the conference's top female athlete.
Neither Favor Hamilton nor officials from the Big Ten immediately responded to requests from The Associated Press seeking comment.
Favor Hamilton is a three-time outdoor 1,500-meter national champion and a three-time indoor national champion - her last title coming in 1999.
"As crazy as I know it seems, I never thought I would be exposed, therefore never hurting anybody," she said in one Twitter post.
In another, she says she is seeking psychological care for her problem.
She closes her series of tweets by saying, "I fully intend to make amends and get back to being a good mother, wife, daughter, and friend."
"I do not expect people to understand," Favor Hamilton wrote Thursday in one of a series of posts to her Twitter account after The Smoking Gun website reported on her double life. "But the reasons for doing this made sense to me at the time and were very much related to depression."
The Smoking Gun said the 44-year-old athlete has been working for the last year for a Las Vegas escort service that booked her for dates there, as well as in Los Angeles, Houston and Chicago.
One of the country's best-ever middle-distance runners, Favor Hamilton competed for the U.S. at the Olympics in 1992, 1996 and 2000 but did not win a medal. She won seven U.S. national titles. She lives in Madison, Wis., where, The Smoking Gun reported, she and her husband, Mark, live in a $600,000 home and appear to be in no financial distress based on the website's review of court and municipal records.
Favor Hamilton told the website that only her husband was aware of her escort work, but that, "He tried, he tried to get me to stop. He wasn't supportive of this at all."
The website reported that Favor Hamilton worked under the alias "Kelly Lundy" but said she told some of her clients about her true identity and suspected one of them outed her.
Soon after the story appeared online, Favor Hamilton released a series of tweets saying in part that she 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."
A nine-time NCAA champion for Wisconsin, Favor Hamilton is the namesake of the Big Ten's Suzy Favor Athlete of the Year Award, given to the conference's top female athlete.
Neither Favor Hamilton nor officials from the Big Ten immediately responded to requests from The Associated Press seeking comment.
Favor Hamilton is a three-time outdoor 1,500-meter national champion and a three-time indoor national champion - her last title coming in 1999.
"As crazy as I know it seems, I never thought I would be exposed, therefore never hurting anybody," she said in one Twitter post.
In another, she says she is seeking psychological care for her problem.
She closes her series of tweets by saying, "I fully intend to make amends and get back to being a good mother, wife, daughter, and friend."
I'm sure she's more ethical than most of our politicians.
Do not judge her too harshly, emotional problems can cause people to do things that none of us can understand. Â The story is now out, and perhaps she can get help. Â No I do not approve of her lifestyle, but I do understand emotional problems. Â IF her husband knew of her lifestyle, then the only people hurt in this are her and her husband. Â A sad chapter in her life.
Her husband "wasn't supportive at all", and yet Favor kept right on giving favors to complete strangers in exchange for money. Baffling. Funny but I have a hard time buying the "I'm depressed so I'm going to go bang a few strangers for some bucks" excuse. Many people suffer from depression and they don't go whoring themselves out, or shooting people, or abusing their children, or what have you in the department of sordid behavior.
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Sounds like a spoiled brat who couldn't cope with reality when her career no longer had the luster it did during her prime. Harsh, yes.
It feels good to be a slut. You should all try it.Â
I hope she is able to work beyond this and pull her marriage back together as well. I DO NOT have a problem with anyone taking on a sex job for what ever reason. I mean male or female. Their life is their own and we should not hold them to judgement. We do not have the right too. I feel the same way about the girl let go on the Pawn Stars show once they found out that she worked in the sex trade. I doubt that if it had been a male and they found out everyone would have had a great laugh about it and moved on.
"Favor Hamilton told the website that only her husband was aware of her escort work, but that, "He tried, he tried to get me to stop. He wasn't supportive of this at all.""
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Oh, well, the cad. I am sure he will be portrayed as an unsympathetic boor in the  Lifetime movie.
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I always thought that adultery was...you know... kind of a deal breaker and all that.
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And who pays good money for 44 year-old escorts withe granny arms? Were all the 20-somethings on strike?
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I have two thoughts about this.
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Firstly, I really hope she finds the help she needs. I am a veteran with PTSD, an alcoholic and a couple of [non-criminal] issues I won't go into. I take meds, go to my counselling, and try to manage my issues as best I may. I know what kind of struggle mood and trigger management is and I empathize with Ms. Hamilton. It could not be said by any reasonable standard that we live in a society that understands, allows for, or forgives mental health issues.
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However, I also feel that if I were her husband, I would have tossed her out of the house until and if she could get on top of the issues that compelled her to do this. I don't claim to be perfect [see above] but I don't think it's unreasonable for a man to think that his wife becoming a prostitute is a 'deal-breaker' and calls her committment to their relationship into question. I don't think I'd file for divorce immediately, but her clothes would be out of the house by Saturday. Many a woman has filed for divorce immediately upon hearing that her husband was seeing prostitutes so it's pretty fair to hold the same standard in this case.
Her business, her life. she isn't taking government handouts. More ethical than many - especially the religious.
 @contraryjim Wow, that's a really odd perspective to me. Then again, it's always interesting to come on here and see how many men think prostitution is fine and dandy (probably for personal reasons).  As a woman, I just find it sad.
@belsnickles @contraryjim I am not sure if that is what he is implying but i certainly will imply that. Being on welfare is straight up theft. It is a joke with no punchline. The single biggest reason our country will fail is our seeming desire, almost ambition to reward laziness with handouts. Yes accepting welfsr is worse than turning tricks. And even a bigger sin is us educated working people offering it. We who knows what happens when you "feed the geese". I feel bad for the husband but cannot figure out why he didnt "escort" her to the curb
@contraryjim Wait a minute... Do you mean to imply that you consider it better for a woman to become a prostitute than to accept welfare if she has mental health issues??? And what does her religion have to do with this anyway?
Bummer story, hope she finds the help she needs
Oh, oh, someone broke the Vegas code...
Well, at least she is doing some damage control now by defining herself before other people attempt to.
Well, I guess if you're going to get some on the side, you might as well get paid for it too. I wouldn't spend $600, but I'd knock the dust off of that.
@Ron Burgandy - I think she would have to pay me! haha
Fabulous, will KOMO be reporting the past lives of all escorts, or just this one? Maybe it's just me, but this seems like such a non-event, certainly not worthy of making the news.
 @Shelly But you read it huh... :-)
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 @PilonidalCyst What wouldn't you hit on, though?  That is the question...
"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." Yeah, I'm sure sleeping with men for money helped her marriage.
 @The WA Mama hahahahaa... never know, maybe the hubby like that sort of thing!  ;)
@Datsuyama @The WA Mama Or the money
I'm heading to Vegas, to see if Alex Morgan has followed the same path.
Oh, please - no need to apologize! Keep up the good work!
Nice arm candy. I would pay to let her escort me a number of places. Pictures here.... http://www.thebiglead.com/index.php/2012/12/20/suzy-favor-hamilton-las-vegas-escort-us-olympian/
Google the photo.
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I thought I recognized her ;-)
Of course, no photo with the story, thanks KOMO , why do I even come here?