 LaVona struggled to support the family while working as a waitress, and hand-sewed her daughter's skating costumes as they could not afford to purchase them.Harding's parents divorced after 19 years of marriage in 1987, when she was 16 years old.She later dropped out of Milwaukie High School during her sophomore year in order to focus on skating, and earned a General Educational Development (GED) Certificate in 1988.