Former Olympic figure skater Debi Thomas appeared on the season finale of the OWN network's reality show "Iyanla: Fix My Life" to tell her story about how she went from an Olympian to being broke and living in a bed bug-infested trailer. Thomas and her fiancé Jamie Looney gave an update on how their lives have changed since filming the episode with host Iyanla Vanzant 10 months ago, ABC News reported.
Thomas won the bronze medal during the 1988 Winter Olympics and was the first African-American to ever win a medal at the Winter Olympics, according to People. She also graced the cover of Time magazine that year. She went on to earn her medical degree from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
But Thomas had to call on the help of Vanzant, and the inspirational speaker offered some tough advice to Thomas, who is now penniless after closing her practice. Thomas cited her unemployment, expensive divorce and child support as the reason why she's living in squalor.
"Suddenly you're like I can't even pay my phone bill," Thomas told ABC News. "I can't even pay this and I was like OK, our lives are totally unmanageable. It's a reality show."
Vanzant also helped Thomas' fiancé Looney come to terms with his problems with drinking and managing his anger since he suffers from PTSD.
"I was feeling hopeless and hurt and she helped me," Looney said. "She really did help me."
Now the couple has a Go Fund Me page and they've raised about half of the $10,000 goal, which will help fund Looney's "Coal Country - A Diamond in the Rough" cause and Thomas' YouTube reality TV show "Can We Go Nowhere Any Faster?"
See a clip from Thomas' "Iyanla: Fix My Life" episode below.
