What Happened to Dorothy Hamill’s Daughter? Inside Alexandra Hamill Chernak’s Life and Death

Decades after her gold medal win, Dorothy Hamill still shows up for the sport that made her a household name, especially during big Olympic moments. Dorothy won Olympic gold in women’s figure skating at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria. That same year, she claimed the world championship title and secured her third straight U.S. national championship.

Dorothy was 19 when she won Olympic gold, and the win turned into a pop culture moment. According to Britannica, she was the last female skater to win Olympic gold without triple jumps, which is still talked about today. At the same time, many remain curious about her personal life, especially what happened to her daughter.

Dorothy’s daughter, Alexandra Hamill Chernak, died on Monday, Nov. 10, 2025, in Monterey, Calif., according to her obituary. Alexandra was born on Sept. 19, 1988, in Palm Springs, Calif., to Dorothy and the late Kenneth Forsythe. She spent much of her childhood on the East Coast before moving to California in 2011. Alexandra built a life outside of her mother’s fame. She worked as a pet groomer and took scuba diving seriously enough to earn Dive Master certification.

According to EternalObituaryMemorial, Alexandra died by suicide. However, public details about her final moments remain limited.

Dorothy herself has previously opened up about her own battle with depression. In an interview with CBS News, she revealed that depression affected multiple members of her family. “My whole family," she said. "My father's side, there was a great deal of depression, and my mother's side as well, and I think I passed that on too, actually, my brother and my sister as well as me.”

Since winning big at the Olympics, Dorothy has remained a part of the figure skating world. According to the AP, Dorothy belongs to an exclusive group text made up of U.S. Olympic figure skating gold medalists, known as “The OGM chain.” According to 1988 Olympic champion Brian Boitano, the group includes every living U.S. gold medalist in the sport.

“When we started the chain, I thought it was just really cool,” Brian said. “You have Evan Lysacek and Carol Heiss and Scott Hamilton and Dorothy Hamill, and you just keep going — Kristi Yamaguchi, Meryl Davis, Charlie White.”

Dorothy has also reflected on how quickly her life changed after 1976. “Four minutes on the ice and two minutes on the podium and then boom, life changes.”