Mary Lou Retton Raised Over $459K in Donations During Her Bout With Pneumonia

The Gist:

• Olympic gold medalist Mary Lou Retton was hospitalized in October 2023 with a rare form of pneumonia.
• At that time, her daughter McKenna Kelley revealed that she is uninsured, leading many to wonder what her net worth is.
• Mary Lou's net worth is estimated to be roughly $2 million, but that number hasn't been independently verified and doesn't necessarily reflect whether she would have been able to pay for healthcare.

Anyone who remembers what a sensation Mary Lou Retton was after she won a gold medal at the 1984 Olympics may have been shocked to learn that she was in the ICU fighting for her life in 2023. Her family had to crowdfund money to pay for that healthcare. According to her daughter, McKenna Kelley, Mary Lou doesn't have health insurance, which explained why they had to crowdfund for her healthcare.

Given the level of fame that Mary Lou attained, and the endorsements that followed, many were shocked that she is uninsured and broke enough to have to crowdfund to pay for her medical bills. Naturally, that news led many people to wonder what Mary Lou's overall net worth is.

After Mary Lou's daughter claimed that she was "fighting for her life" in a battle against a rare form of pneumonia, she ultimately raised more than $300,000 to help pay for her care.

Mary Lou's net worth is reportedly roughly $2 million, although that hasn't been confirmed or verified by any independent source. So, while it's possible that Mary Lou's net worth might be that high, it's impossible to say for sure.

It's also important to note that regardless of what Mary Lou's net worth might be, her net worth doesn't necessarily accurately reflect how much money she might have on hand. Net worth includes the value of property you own, investments you have, and any contracts you have that may reflect future income. In short, it's certainly possible for someone to be worth $2 million and not be able to afford healthcare.

Although Mary Lou's family crowdfunded more than enough money to pay for her medical care, $459,354 to be exact, it's unclear why the money was needed to begin with. It's possible that she doesn't have the kind of steady employment that would offer health insurance, but it seems unlikely that she wouldn't have the income required to pay for her own insurance through the Health Insurance Marketplace.

What her story has surely highlighted, though, is that healthcare in America is enormously expensive for the uninsured. Thankfully, Mary Lou was able to recover from her illness and return home, though she was wearing a breathing apparatus during a January 2024 interview with Today Show host Hoda Kotb.

After it was evident that Mary Lou was on the road to recovery, plenty of people grew less concerned with her health and more interested in how the retired gymnast would spend the over $459k she received in donations.

Although Mary Lou has not publicly outlined how she would be utilizing the funds people so graciously handed over, it shed light on her finances. More specifically, sources began spotlighting how much she collected from her divorce from former Texas Longhorns quarterback Shannon Kelley.

Mary Lou and Shannon wed in December 1990, and divorced in February 2018. The DailyMail says that after reviewing court documents from her divorce, the outlet discovered she had collected $2 million from the proceedings.

While some might wonder why she wasn't able to use any of that money to purchase health insurance, we don't know how much of that covered her legal fees. It was also over five years ago that she reportedly received this money.

Regardless, we wish Mary Lou the best!