The 54-year-old New Jersey woman, who made headlines across the world back in 2012 when she was accused of bringing her then-5-year-old daughter Anna into a Nutley tanning bed, says she is a “totally different person” now and no longer engages in extreme tanning.
“I changed my whole attitude on life. I’ve turned my life around,” Krentcil told Insider. “I don’t get disrespected anymore. I don’t party or do any crazy things.”
The infamous tanner was apprehended and charged with child endangerment in 2012 for allegedly exposing Anna to artificial UV rays in a Nutley salon. A New Jersey grand jury ultimately refused to indict Krentcil in 2013 and she did not lose custody of her little girl.
However, Krentcil said the incident has dogged her “every day for the past 10 years,” leaving her in dire financial straits.
“When ‘tan mom’ hit, I was a wreck,” Krentcil told Insider, adding that lawyers’ fees in the child-endangerment case “cost us almost two houses.”
She said she also could no longer pursue her shady hobby.
“I couldn’t tan — I was banned,” she said, referring to local salons that deemed her persona non grata after her high-profile arrest.
Krentcil also described how devastated she was about losing her husband, Richard, who passed away last summer after being diagnosed with colon cancer, COVID-19 and pneumonia.
“We had our ups and downs, but he was my best friend,” she tearfully told Insider about her second husband, with whom she shared two of her five kids, including the now 16-year-old Anna and 13-year-old son, Addison.
Krentcil said she relied heavily on Richard amid the media spotlight at the time of her legal troubles.
“They took my whole soul, they took my energy,” she said, referring to the swarm of paparazzi.
Krentcil said she has since moved to Boca Raton, Florida, where she has dated a bit since losing her hubby.
“I’m not rushing relationships, that’s not the most important thing,” she told the outlet.
“I’ve always been a great mom, and I’ll continue to be a great mom. Anyone in my position at that particular moment would have lost it, and I had the energy to stay strong in my worst hours,” Krentcil said.
Krentcil was hospitalized in 2019 for pneumonia and was placed in a medically induced coma. She had suffered cardiac arrest and also was diagnosed with pancreatitis and an infection that spread to her lungs.
The heavy smoker told The New York Post at the time that “my whole body died — I was proclaimed dead. It was so sad.”
Regarding her days of extreme tanning, Krentcil told Insider, “I didn’t mean to get that dark,” adding that she is relieved she hasn’t gotten skin cancer.
“I’m here for a reason, and I have to make sure I’m here for my kids,” Krentcil told Insider. “I’m not dark anymore. I’m very happy. It’s exhausting keeping it up.”
