PortfolioChrisBowman PDF copy

52 IFS/WWW.IFSMAGAZINE.COM/JUNE 2008 JUNE 2008/WWW.IFSMAGAZINE.COM/IFS 53
Christopher BowmanA FINAL CONVERSATION WITH IFS MAGAZINE
By Nicole Cunningham
Bowman was found dead in a $55-a-night Los Angeles
motel room Jan. 10. He was 40 years old.
The Los Angeles County coroner’s office ruled that the
cause of death was an accidental drug overdose. The toxicology
report revealed that within 12 to 24 hours of Bowman’s death,
he had been drinking heavily (and had a 0.12 blood-alcohol
level), and had used cocaine and taken the painkiller Vicodin.
There were other drugs present in his system as well, including
marijuana and Seroquel (a prescription commonly used to treat
bipolar disorder).
A spokesman for the coroner’s office said Bowman had an
enlarged heart, which was likely not present at birth, though
the condition’s cause was not obvious. The once-agile athlete
weighed in at nearly 300 pounds when he died.
Bowman left behind a 10-year-old daughter, Bianca, whom
he had called his pride and joy. Among the belongings found
with Bowman when he died was a wallet stuffed with photos
of Bianca.
Bowman’s former wife of eight years, Annette Bowman, said
their daughter is doing well. “Bianca is doing fine now,” she said.
“In her little mind daddy can watch her all the time. That is how
she is taking it.”
As to how to explain death to a 10-year-old, Annette
Bowman did the best any mother could. “I always told her he
had an illness and an addiction ... [and I told her] he had not
treated his body too well and his heart stopped,” she explained.
Bowman’s coach of 18 years, Frank Carroll, said, “There
were so many of us whose expectations were that he wouldn’t last
until he was 40 years old. It wasn’t like it wasn’t expected, but it
was still a shock, a sad shock when it really did happen.”
Nearly a year before he died, IFS magazine caught up with
Bowman, in what appears to be his final major interview. In
lengthy conversations between January 2007 and March 2007,
Bowman openly reflected on his skating years, his struggles with
substance abuse, his relationship with Carroll and his plans to
reclaim the spotlight.
Here is Bowman’s take on his life, and the reflections of
those who led, loved and ultimately lost him.
AN ARTIST FROM THE BEGINNING
In an exhibition performance following one of his three Skate
America wins, Bowman bounced proudly across the ice to the lyr-
ics of “I’m Just a Bad Boy” to laughter and applause. His moussed,
night-black hair feathered in the breeze as he flashed his famous
devilish grin at both the crowd and the cameras. Bowman wiggled
his hips to the lyric “Life is just a bowl of cherries.”
Eerily, reflecting on Bowman’s death, Carroll sighed, “Life is
not a bowl of cherries.”
Bowman was famous for his ability to connect with crowds,
never letting on what problems hid behind his always-ready smile.
“He had that uncanny ability to skate brilliantly although he had
those troubles,” Carroll said. “All of us coaches who knew him said
he was the only one we ever knew who could not be in top training
[condition] and put on the music and put on a top program.”
Bowman’s performances earned him a large and passionate
fan base. And, being an exceptional artist seemed to be his destiny.
Bowman was born to Nelson and Joyce Bowman in Hollywood,
Calif. He played the character Ben for one season on the popular
television series “Little House on the Prairie.” He starred in hun-
dreds of commercials. After he tried skating at a shopping mall ice
rink, skating lessons soon took the place of photo shoots, audi-
tions and casting calls.
Bowman’s life changed when he met Carroll. “Frank was like
a second father to me and I was like a son,” Bowman said. “He
taught me all the way up from my first waltz jump through figure
eights. It’s an outstanding achievement.”
One of Carroll’s other top students, Linda Fratianne, was
12 when she first noticed 5-year-old Bowman buzzing around
the rink. She remembered thinking, “That little boy should be
in commercials.”
ans roared in reverent approval at the 2008 U.S.
Championships at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul,
Minn. when images of the late Christopher Bowman
appeared on the JumboTron. It had been 16 years since
“Bowman the Showman,” as he was popularly known, had
taken his second gold medal at the U.S. nationals, but his
technique and luminous artistry have stood the test of time.
Christopher Bowman and daughter
Bianca posed for a photo at a 2000
birthday brunch for the former
skating great at the Ritz-Carlton in
Dearborn, Mich. Bowman’s daughter
was his pride and joy.
In 1990 Viktor
Petrenko (left),
Kurt Browning
(middle) and
Christopher
Bowman were
the medalists
at the World
Championships.
COURTESYANNETTEBOWMAN
PAULHARVATH
PAULHARVATH
Christopher Bowman had
“that uncanny ability to
skate brilliantly” despite
any off-ice problems he
was having, said his long-
time coach Frank Carroll.

He made a big impression on 1979 World pairs champion
Tai Babilonia, too. The two grew up in the same area and occa-
sionally shared ice time.
“He was like a bright light,” Babilonia explained. “He was 11
or 12 at the time, and he was just running around, wild and play-
ing tricks on everyone. But once he got on the ice, it was like, ‘This
guy had it.’ Then he turned into a great competitor and he was
great when he toured. He had everything, like Scott Hamilton.”
Carroll guided Bowman to the junior U.S. men’s title in
1983, followed by a World Junior Championship title that same
year. The medals started coming at the U.S. Championships a
few short years later, despite Bowman’s lack of commitment to
training. What Carroll and others thought was teenage experi-
mentation with marijuana grew into a full-blown drug addiction.
Carroll said Bowman would disappear for weeks at a time.
Carroll and Bowman’s parents were always in rescue mode, especial-
ly for one pivotal year. “We just dragged him from a situation where
he wasn’t living at home and was doing drugs,” Carroll remembered.
“He wasn’t going to even try for the [1988] Olympics.”
After a stay at the famous Betty Ford Center, Bowman made
the U.S. Olympic team and placed seventh in Calgary.
In 1989 Bowman claimed his first of two U.S. titles. Also that
year, Bowman notched the biggest accomplishment of his career at
the World Championships in Paris, France, where he placed second.
“After the ‘Battle of the Brians,’ there were [other] cham-
pions waiting to step out of the shadows,” Bowman said. “Kurt
Browning, Viktor Petrenko and I were in the mix.”
Bowman said he considered Browning, in particular, to be a
threat. At the 1989 Worlds, Bowman and Browning skated what
Bowman called
“flawless”programs,
with Browning tak-
ing the gold.
Bowman felt
he deserved gold,
and he blamed pol-
itics. “I had come
to the stark realiza-
tion after 1989 that
I was starting to
be seriously chal-
lenged by a skater
who fit more the technical mold of the champion male skater,”
Bowman said. “I knew after the politics of 1989 I would have to
reinvent myself.”
SEX, DRUGS AND ROCK ’N’ ROLL
Bowman drew inspiration from many sources. “I was looking at
John McEnroe, the Los Angeles music scene [and] took on a kind
of bad boy kind of image with bands like Mötley Crüe and Guns
N’ Roses,” Bowman said. “I was going to take that womanizing,
hard-drinking, sexy, raw, male macho image to skating.”
Bowman continued to miss lessons and practice, and his
coach and parents were certain Bowman was using drugs again.
Carroll recalled one episode when Bowman was scheduled to
compete at Skate America, but hadn’t been to the rink in weeks.
Carroll called U.S. Figure Skating officials and told them there
might be a problem. They sent a judge to California to watch
Bowman run through his program.
“I thought, ‘This is going to be hilarious, he won’t even be
able to get through the program,’” Carroll recalled. “I said, ‘All
right, Chris, let’s do your program,’ and I put on the music and
he skated perfectly, landing the triple Axel.
“The judge said, ‘You know, Frank, I don’t see much of a
problem here.’
“That was the point. You couldn’t see the problem,” Carroll
asserted. “The problem was hidden under layers of ability and
being an actor and being able to keep that side hidden. I wish I
had had enough guts to say he’s a drug addict.”
While Carroll and Bowman’s parents kept his problems
discreetly out of the press, Bowman didn’t care about dam-
age control. He said he’d turn down interviews with Sports
Illustrated and Time magazines, and instead talk to reporters with
Hustler and Penthouse. He drove a Harley and got some tattoos
— including one on his bicep that read, “Nobody’s Perfect.”
Bowman skated to hard rock music and doled out sex advice
as a guest host on an L.A. radio talk show. He dated actresses
— some of whom worked in the adult film industry — and kept
what some would consider dangerous company, spending time
with members of well-known biker gangs.
“I was known as the guy who throws out the hotel keys to
the pretty girls. I did everything I could possibly do, like spend-
ing time in strip clubs,” Bowman recalled. “I put up my fan
club address in strip club bathrooms. I would get fan mail from
convicts in prison and hookers.”
In 1990 Bowman claimed the bronze medal at the World
Championships in Halifax with a program that Bowman said he
improvised, much to his coach’s frustration.
CarrollsaidwhenothercoachescomplimentedhimonBowman’s
performance, he was secretly fuming. “He was second in the world
not doing what normal people would do with training,” Carroll said.
“He was third in the world in Halifax and that was the end for me.
He was able to be on the podium with all his problems.”
What others viewed as problems, Bowman viewed as assets.
“I am who I am, no holds barred,” Bowman said. “What you see
is what you get. In my case, I was the real deal.”
A DANGEROUS ROAD
“I created this persona, but the media definitely threw gasoline on
it,” Bowman recalled. “It got to a point where it was out of con-
trol. I started believing my own press and it got dangerous.”
Bowman said he sometimes smoked two packs of cigarettes
a day, drank alcohol, smoked marijuana and eventually began
spending hundreds of dollars a day on cocaine.
Bowman said he never skated while high. “I never competed
under the influence. I was terrified of that,” he said.
His fear, however, seemed to be more a fear of getting caught
than a fear of injuring himself or other skaters. Bowman admitted
that he was a master of deceit and manipulation when it came to
avoiding a positive drug test.
“I was very conscientious of the time frame when I would
most likely be tested,” Bowman said. “I knew exactly how long a
drug was in my system before I needed to stop for testing. I never
failed a test.”
Bowman appeared to be in peak physical condition — slen-
der yet muscular — and his good looks never let on that there was
a problem.
“He was fantastically handsome,” Carroll said. “I understand
people looking on television at a distance [and] he was this hand-
some and wonderful and charming man. He was handsome and
healthy and they had no idea what was going on.”
Bowman’s behavior began to take its toll on Carroll emotion-
ally, and Carroll finally ended his relationship with Bowman.
“It was a very unhappy time for me. You have no idea how
painful it was for me when I was trying to keep him skating and
keep his nose clean and keep people from knowing his problem,”
Carroll said. “I used to get hate mail about what a terrible person
I was and how cruel and not understanding I was, and I was basi-
cally trying to get him to remember his choreography and keep
him on his feet, knowing how his mind was distracted.”
After the breakup, Bowman worked with Ellen Burka and
Toller Cranston in Toronto.
Carroll recalled a funny story from that time period. “At a press
conference in Orlando withToller Cranston and Ellen Burka, some-
body said, ‘Chris, we have a comment thatToller Cranston said you
are the most difficult and undisciplined student he’s ever had.’ Chris
responded, ‘What a terrible thing for Ellen to say about Toller.’ And
of course everyone lost it.”
Bowman returned to California and then took John Nicks as
a coach. Bowman, though still using drugs, said he felt reinvigo-
rated about skating as he prepared for the 1992 Olympic Games
in Albertville, France.
He had some concerns, because American skater Todd
Eldredge had started to beat him.
“There was some concern that my status and placements were
starting to slip,” Bowman remembered. “I had to formulate a new
plan after being beaten by Todd.”
Bowman’s old foes were still around, too, including Petrenko
and Browning. He believed he could beat them and win the gold
at the Olympic Games. “My agent was dreaming of the crazy
money we could make,” Bowman said. “Sugar plum fairies and
15-percent commissions were dancing in his head.”
Bowman finished seventh in the short program after missing
his triple Axel combination. He fared better in the long program,
but still had two mistakes. Bowman finished the Games in fourth.
Petrenko claimed gold.
That was Bowman’s final Olympic Games. He competed at
Worlds in 1992 and also finished fourth. He then spent a year
headlining Ice Capades.
Without the demands of amateur competition and its drug
“I am who I am, no
holds barred. What
you see is what you
get. In my case, I was
the real deal.”
— Christopher Bowman
“Bowman the Showman”
always gave the audience
an entertaining perfor-
mance, whether in com-
petition or on tour.
PAULHARVATH
Paul Wylie and Christopher
Bowman have some fun at
a party at Wylie’s home on
Martha’s Vineyard
a day before his
wedding
in 1999.
Christopher Bowman
is flanked by his
groomsmen Brian
Boitano (left) and
Paul Wylie on his
wedding day in 1996.

tests, Bowman said he was using drugs nonstop. His health
declined. The drugs wrecked his finances, and his desire to settle
down and start a family clashed with his drug use. Several attempts
at drug and alcohol rehabilitation failed.
“It’s the same old story. You go because your girlfriend’s
unhappy, or because your agent wants you to,” Bowman said. “You
go for the wrong reasons rather than helping yourself. You do it for
everyone else. That’s just all wrong.”
FAMILY LIFE
Bowman did find sobriety for several years. He met his future
wife, Annette, while coaching in Florida, and they married on
Aug. 31, 1996, a year after their first date. “For the first six and
a half to seven years of our marriage it was sheer bliss,” Annette
Bowman said. “He was doing very well. He had the commentator
job. He was a great dad.”
She said he always made her feel special. “Let’s put it this way:
Five years into our marriage I was still getting flowers three times a
week,” Annette Bowman said. “He cooked dinner every day. As far
as Bianca, he was a child at heart. They played hide-and-go-seek
for three to four hours a day.”
In the final year of their marriage, the signs of addiction
resurfaced, but Annette Bowman was not sure why her husband
started using again. “I knew addiction was something he battled
with every day, [but] there were never any issues until the very last
year,” she said. “My primary goal was to get him back in rehab.”
At first, he agreed, but then was hesitant to admit he had
a problem.
“Push came to shove and that was the only option that I was
directed towards by the guidance counselors — the tough love
approach,” his former wife said. “Our divorce was by no means
for a lack of love.”
Bowman’s troubles continued after his marriage ended. In
2005, he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor gun possession
charge stemming from an incident in which he aimed a firearm
at his business partner, April Freeman. He was sentenced to 18
months probation and to community service.
Freeman, who recently said she was Bowman’s fiancée in pub-
lished reports, did not respond to IFS’s requests for an interview.
After the incident with Freeman, Bowman worked with a
psychiatrist to find out why, as he put it, he was “self-medicating.”
At the time of the 2007 interview with IFS, he admitted he still
had some work to do. He did not want to be specific about what
his demons were.
Bowman was attempting to get his career back on track. He
decided to give up his 10-year coaching career and focus more on
the Hollywood life he gave up for skating. “I am getting back to
my roots,” he said.
At the time Bowman said he had a small role in an upcoming
Brian J. De Palma feature film called “Down and Distance,” and he
was pitching a variety show, appropriately named “The Showman
Show,” to TV networks. He also said he had an autobiography and
a documentary in the works.
Babilonia said Bowman had expressed an interest in American
reality TV. He tried to reach her through a friend about appear-
ing on “Celebrity Fit Club.” She gave the friend her number, but
Bowman never called her.
“It was like he was trying but those demons just got the best
of him,” Babilonia explained.
Accordingtopublishedreports,atthetimeofhisdeathBowman
was on probation for a theft that occurred in November 2007.
Even though he never won an Olympic medal, Bowman
looked back with pride on his two appearances at the Olympic
Games. “One good thing I can always look back on is that even
though I went through the trials, tribulations and the controver-
sies of the skating world, I was always very proud of my Olympic
accomplishments,” he said.
A statement from U.S. Figure Skating shortly after Bowman’s
death celebrated his successes, but acknowledged his troubles.
“‘Bowman the Showman’ says it all,” said Mitch Moyer, U.S. Figure
Skating senior director of athlete high performance. “When I think
of Christopher, I smile. I think of all the Christopher Bowman sto-
ries and performances. He loved to be on stage both on and off the
ice ... and then I frown. It is sad that he struggled with balancing
his life and that he passed away so young. Christopher touched so
many lives and put smiles on all our faces.”
A CELEBRATION OF LIFE
Bowman’s funeral was held at the church he attended as a child,
St. Cyril’s, where some of the skating world’s most famous
stars (including Babilonia, Fratianne, Brian Boitano and Randy
Gardner) came to pay their respects.
“Once again he packed the house. He sold it out. He sold
that church out,” Babilonia said. “Of course everyone was crying.
“Then when Frank went up, and it was just ...” Babilonia’s
voice trailed off. “Frank had all these stories, so he basically
brought Christopher up [there].”
Carroll gave the eulogy, choosing to remember the happy
and carefree child he coached. “When someone passes like
Christopher, you think of the good times and all the hilarity,” rem-
inisced Carroll. “Even though he was naughty, everything he did
was extremely funny. You would die laughing at everything. That’s
how I am thinking of him — how witty he was and how smart he
was and how he would have a comeback about anything.”
Fratianne also spoke at the funeral and sat with Bowman’s fam-
ily at the front of the church. “He was like a little brother to me,” she
told IFS. “He was always so charming, always the center of attention
and the life of the party. I was blessed to have him in my life.”
At the time of Bowman’s death, Carroll and Bowman were
still estranged. “You can’t spend 18 years of life with somebody
and not love them,” Carroll told IFS. “I have a lot of love for
Christopher and he had a lot of love for me.”
Bowman’s for-
mer wife wants people
to understand that
despite his struggles,
he was loved and will
be missed. “I want
everybody to remem-
ber Christopher as the
genuine, fun-loving,
bighearted soul that he
was,” she said. “That is
who Christopher was.
He had some demons to battle and he lost the battle, period. It’s
time for him to lay in peace.”
One of Bowman’s last comments perhaps best sums up the
way he looked at his own life.
“I’ve grown old, gotten married, had a child. I’m living the
life God gave me,” he said. “The party is long over.”
— Susan Wessling contributed to this report.
“I want everybody to
remember Christopher
as the genuine, fun-
loving, bighearted soul
that he was.”
— Annette Bowman
Christopher and Annette Bowman
take their only child, Bianca, skating
for the first time in 1999 at the Garden
City Civic Ice Arena in Michigan.
The two-time U.S.
champion and his
daughter were all
smiles in the church
on the 2002 wedding
day of her godfather.
She was a flower girl
in the ceremony held
in Detroit.
Christopher
Bowman caught up
with Brian Boitano
at a dinner party at
the 2002 Olympic
Games in Salt
Lake City where
Bowman did the
radio commentary.

PortfolioChrisBowman PDF copy

More Related Content

Viewers also liked (18)

PortfolioChrisBowman PDF copy