‘SHE’S FIGHTING’

Mary Lou Retton ‘Kind of Wants to Give Up’: ‘DWTS’ Partner

“Dancing With the Stars” pro Sasha Farber, who partnered with Retton on season 27, said he has been in touch with the former Olympian after the news of her health battle.

Dancing With the Stars pro Sahsa Farber shared details about his former season 27 partner Mary Lou Retton’s health battle after her family confirmed the former Olympian is fighting for her life with a rare form of pneumonia. After Tuesday’s episode, speaking to ET, Farber said he had spoken to Retton earlier that day. “I’ve been talking to her today and she’s fighting,” Farber said. “She kind of wants to give up, but I’m sending her videos of her dancing and I’m telling her, ‘There’s only one Mary Lou Retton. You’ve got this!’ She was in LA [a few weeks] ago and she wanted to meet up, [but] I had rehearsals and I couldn’t,” Farber continued. “She was like, ‘Let me take you out for dinner,’ and I couldn’t go because I had rehearsals.” On Wednesday, Retton’s eldest daughter, Shayla Kelley Schrepfer, provided more insight on her mom’s health on Instagram, saying it was a “day by day process,” but that she was “still fighting.” Schrepfer added that they were blown away with fundraising efforts that has amassed more than $330,000. “She’s been treated with the best of the best professionals....it has been such a blessing to have their hands on her,” she said.