Former Olympic gold medalist Mary Lou Retton looked tan, glowing and very much in charge as the mother of the bride Sunday when her youngest daughter, Emma Kelley, married her college sweetheart at the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden.
Retton, 57, was arrested for DUI in her home state of West Virginia last month and was hospitalized in the ICU in 2023 with a rare pneumonia that she said scarred her lungs and forced her to use oxygen tubes to breathe.
There was some concern she might not even be able to attend the wedding.
But Retton looked strong and fit in an over-the-shoulder sparkly midnight blue dress as she shepherded 23-year-old Emma’s dozen bridesmaids around on golf carts at the arboretum where they all posed for wedding photos in the 94-degree heat.
There was no sign of her needing breathing tubes and she walked around the gardens at a more rapid clip than the 20-something bridesmaids – clad in peach-colored dresses – despite the sweltering temperatures.
At one point, Retton’s ex-husband Shannon Kelley, a former University of Texas quarterback-turned-businessman, came out on the arm of a bridesmaid to pose with his daughter, shouting that he was ‘keeping his eyes closed’ until he came up to her and saw her in her wedding dress.
Tan and tiny Mary Lou, 57, was dwarfed by her ex-husband, Shannon Kelley, a former University of Texas quarterback-turned-businessman at the wedding
Former Olympic gold medalist Mary Lou Retton stepped away from her DUI troubles and showed up in Dallas looking tan and ready to celebrate her youngest daughter Emma Kelley’s wedding to her college sweetheart
Emma’s lavish wedding took place at the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden. She and her bridegroom Hudson Clark met at the University of Arkansas, where Emma was on the school’s gymnastics squad and Clark was a defensive back for the football team
Retton and Kelley, who divorced in 2018 after 27 years of marriage, walked down the aisle again together at their daughter’s wedding. At 6′ 1″, he towered 16 inches taller than his petite ex.
‘Emma is over the moon,’ one of her bridesmaids told the Daily Mail.
Sunday’s ceremony took place after a rehearsal dinner and celebration at the Stoneleigh Hotel in downtown Dallas the night before.
Under an archway of sweeping crape myrtle trees at the 66-acre arboretum in east Dallas on the shore of White Rock Lake, Emma tied the knot with Hudson Clark, whose family lives about 15 minutes away from the arboretum.
The couple met at the University of Arkansas, where Emma was on the school’s gymnastics squad and Clark was a star defensive back for the Razorbacks football team.
Emma broke the news of their engagement in a joint Instagram post with her new fiancé almost exactly one year ago.
Mary Lou’s daughter Shayla posted a picture of the gymnast at her lowest point after she contracted a rare pneumonia that scarred her lungs and forced her to use oxygen tubes to breathe
Despite reports that legal woes and health issues would keep her away, Retton appeared glowing and looking great
Retton and Kelley divorced after 27 years of marriage in 2018
At her daughter Emma’s wedding, Retton wore an over-the-shoulder sparkly midnight blue dress paired with a silver bracelet and high heels
Retton stood with Emma’s 20-something bridesmaids, who all wore coral pink colored dresses, as she got ready to walk down the aisle
‘WE’RE ENGAGED!! Couldn’t be more excited and ready to walk God’s path together!!’ Emma captioned the post. ‘My partner for life, I love you.’
‘Let’s do this life together!!’ she added.
Emma has three older sisters, Shayla, 30, McKenna, 28, and Skyla, 24, all of whom have been involved in gymnastics and are close with their mom.
But Mary Lou has been absent from many of their social media posts in the past six months.
The Daily Mail reported last month that family members in both West Virginia and Texas were concerned about Retton’s arrest and were also confused about why she left her $550,000 post-divorce home in Boerne, Texas, apparently without telling her relatives, to drive back to her native West Virginia.
Retton is originally from Fairmont, West Virginia, and has split her time between the Mountain State and Texas, where she’s been based since 2012.
Retton is a five-time Olympic medalist, winning gold in the All-Around gymnastics event at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles when she was just 16
Emma (left) and Retton were spotted riding golf carts on Saturday during a wedding walk-through, later using them to head to the hotel for the rehearsal dinner
Under an archway of sweeping crape myrtle trees at the 66-acre arboretum in east Dallas on the shore of White Rock Lake, Emma wed Hudson Clark, whose family lives about 15 minutes away from the arboretum
The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden, where Emma and her college sweetheart were married after she announced their engagement on Instagram a year prior
McKenna Kelley, a former gymnast at Louisiana State University who married Braden Doughty in Texas last September, posted an announcement shortly after her mother came home to recover that the family was accepting donations on Spotfund to help with medical bills after her hospitalization.
McKenna said her mother, who in her heyday had numerous commercial endorsements and was the first female athlete pictured on the Wheaties cereal box, had not been able to afford medical insurance.
About $500,000 was raised in donations, but the family has been vague about what exactly was done with the money and some were skeptical about why Retton had no insurance.
Retton was widely derided on social media after she was found in her car – a Porsche – in a parking lot on May 17 with a screw-top bottle of wine on the passenger seat, before refusing to have her blood tested for alcohol.
She appeared in court in West Virginia after the arrest, entering a no-contest plea to a non-aggravated DUI charge, receiving a $100 fine – the standard amount for a first-time offense.
‘I take full responsibility for my actions,’ she told People after the court hearing, her first public statement on the incident nearly a month on.
Emma (left) has three older sisters, Shayla, 30, McKenna, 28, and Skyla, 24, all of whom have been involved in gymnastics and appeared on social media to be very close with their mom
Retton has been largely absent from her daughter’s social media presence for around six months. On May 17, she was pulled over into a parking lot by police who found a screw-top bottle of wine in the front seat before arresting her
Retton (center) sat in the front row at her daughter’s wedding ceremony
‘What happened was completely unacceptable,’ she added, through her attorney Edmund Rollo. ‘I make no excuses. To my family, friends and my fans: I have let you down, and for that I am deeply sorry.
‘I am determined to learn and grow from this experience, and I am committed to making positive changes in my life. I truly appreciate your concern, encouragement and continued support.’
In addition, she asked for ‘privacy as she moves forward with her personal and professional life’.
The arrest in West Virginia came after police responded to reports of a Porsche with a Texas license plate driving ‘all over the roadway’, according to court documents.
Police claimed Retton was slurring her words when they found her, and three standard field sobriety tests found her to be impaired, according to WDTV.
Although she looked extremely healthy at Emma’s wedding on Sunday, she reportedly is still undergoing treatment for long COVID and lung problems.
The arboretum was closed to the public on the day of Emma’s wedding
Retton apologized for the DUI incident in an interview with People Magazine and said ‘What happened was completely unacceptable’ before asking for privacy
And according to Shaun Kelley, the brother of her ex-husband Shannon, just one drink is capable of causing a chemical imbalance in Mary Lou’s brain because of the medications she’s currently taking.
‘She couldn’t even take a full breath when I talked to her, she takes these little panting breaths,’ Shaun told The New York Post about his ex-sister-in-law last week, whom he says has no history of alcohol abuse.
He also added: ‘She is on all these meds and one drink could throw off her brain chemistry.’
Retton told People last year that ‘God wasn’t ready for me yet’ after her battle with pneumonia.
‘It’s been really hard,’ she added. ‘My lungs are so scarred. It will be a lifetime of recovery. My physicality was the only thing I had, and it was all taken away from me. It’s embarrassing.’
Retton is a five-time Olympic medalist, winning gold in the All-Around gymnastics event at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles when she was just 16. She also won two silvers and two bronzes
She was catapulted into superstardom and was labeled ‘America’s Sweetheart’.
