Jessica Alba Deleted Her Bloody-Knee Nancy Kerrigan Halloween Costume After Backlash, but It’s Still on Threads

By Nico Grey · Published Nov 3, 2026, 6:21 PM (BKK)

I’ve been behind the camera since 2001 and shot more than 2,000 scenes, and I run NicoGrey.com and Scandal Planet. One thing every set teaches you: a costume tells a story, and you’d better know whose story it is before the camera rolls. This Halloween, Jessica Alba found that out the loud way.

Jessica Alba went to a Los Angeles Halloween party dressed as figure skater Nancy Kerrigan, complete with a bandage streaked with fake blood around her knee, while her friend came as Tonya Harding with a baseball bat. She posted it on Instagram on Sunday, and by Monday the post was gone. USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, Us Weekly, TMZ and the Daily Mail all covered the deletion on Nov. 2.

The catch: according to the Daily Mail and USA Today, the same photos were still up on Threads, Instagram’s sister app, as of Monday. Alba, 45, hasn’t said a word about any of it.

Below: what the deleted post actually showed, where she wore it, both sides of the backlash, what the costume got wrong about 1994, why the timing is awkward for Tonya Harding’s comeback, and the other Nancy in Alba’s career, the one people still search for.

The posts everyone is sharing

Alba’s own Instagram post is gone, so here’s how the story spread on X. The New York Post’s post carries the costume photo; Clay Travis’ defense of her passed 140,000 views overnight:

What happened: “Happy Halloween from Tonya … and Nancy”

Alba and her friend, philanthropist Kelly Sawyer, wore the costumes to Vas J Morgan and Michael Braun’s “Hockey Horror” Halloween party in Los Angeles on Saturday, Oct. 31, per Us Weekly. Cosmopolitan reports the theme was inspired by the hockey romances “Heated Rivalry” and “Off Campus,” which explains the ice-skating idea. Us says other guests included Paul Wesley, Paris Hilton, Machine Gun Kelly, Salma Hayek and Natasha Lyonne.

On Sunday, Nov. 1, Alba posted a carousel captioned “Happy Halloween from Tonya … and Nancy,” per USA Today and Us. The comments turned fast. By Monday, Nov. 2, the post had been taken down. USA Today, EW and Us all say they reached out to Alba or her representatives; none reported a reply.

The costume, piece by piece

Here’s what the outlets that saw the photos describe:

• Jessica as Nancy. A white minidress, lacy per the Daily Mail, with tights and white skates (USA Today and the Daily Mail; EW calls them heeled lace-up boots), plus a ponytail tied with a white ribbon (EW). That’s a nod to one of Kerrigan’s best-known looks, according to the Daily Mail.
• The detail that started it. A bandage around her knee streaked with fake blood. The Daily Mail puts it on her left knee.
• Kelly Sawyer as Tonya. A sparkly maroon skating dress and white boots, holding a baseball bat over one shoulder (EW, USA Today).
• The caption. “Happy Halloween from Tonya … and Nancy.” The Daily Mail adds that the caption also mentioned Harding’s mother, LaVona Fay Golden, the role that won Allison Janney an Oscar in “I, Tonya” (2017).

Two things the costume got wrong, if you’re keeping score. The attacker didn’t use a bat, he used a police baton, as the Daily Mail points out. And Kerrigan was hit on her right leg, just above the knee, according to the account of the attack in her Wikipedia biography.

The backlash, both sides

Critics said the costume turned a real assault into a punchline. “Immature. We expect better, Jessica,” one commenter wrote under the post, per Us Weekly; another asked, “Why would you want to revisit this traumatic moment that ended people’s careers?” On X, one user quoted by USA Today called it “sick.”

Plenty of people didn’t see the harm. Us found comments calling it “Brilliant costumes,” Cosmopolitan says Reddit mostly thought the backlash was overblown, and radio host Clay Travis went furthest on X: “Nobody died. This wasn’t an assassination. You have nothing to apologize for, Jessica Alba. Never apologize for a costume.”

She wasn’t the only star in costume trouble that weekend. USA Today notes Martha Stewart also deleted a costume photo, then posted an apology on Instagram: “Wearing a costume like I did was insensitive and not funny. I am very sorry.” Alba has done the first half of that and none of the second.

Why the timing is awkward

Tonya Harding, 55, is about to be back on the ice. She told Portland’s KOIN 6 she “can’t walk away” from skating, and she’s set to perform in “Tonya and Friends,” a public skating show at Mountain View Ice Arena in Vancouver, Washington, on Saturday, Dec. 12, as People and Us reported. So a Halloween joke about the worst week of her career landed the same weekend her comeback was in the news.

Harding has said she’s tired of the subject. “I’m surprised that anyone is still interested in the incident from 30 years ago,” she told People in 2024. Kerrigan, now 57, has not commented on the costume in any of the coverage.

How we got here: 1994 in 60 seconds

• Jan. 6, 1994. At the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit, Kerrigan is struck with a police baton in a corridor at Cobo Arena right after practice, per her Wikipedia biography. The attacker, Shane Stant, was hired through Harding’s ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and her bodyguard, Shawn Eckardt (EW, Daily Mail).
• February 1994. Kerrigan recovers in time for the Lillehammer Olympics and wins silver; Harding finishes eighth (EW).
• The fallout. Harding was never convicted over the attack itself, but pleaded guilty to conspiring to hinder the prosecution: a $160,000 fine, three years’ probation, 500 hours of community service and a lifetime ban from the U.S. Figure Skating Association (Daily Mail, EW). Gillooly and three co-conspirators were charged and convicted for planning and carrying out the attack (USA Today).
• 2004. Kerrigan is inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame (EW).
• 2017. “I, Tonya” turns it into a dark comedy, with Margot Robbie as Harding and Allison Janney’s Oscar-winning LaVona.

The other Nancy: her sexiest screen moments (on our hub)

Here’s the irony. The most famous Nancy in Jessica Alba’s life isn’t Kerrigan, it’s Nancy Callahan, the dancer at Kadie’s in Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller’s “Sin City” (2005), a role she came back to in “Sin City: A Dame to Kill For” (2014), per Wikipedia. None of these are nude scenes, and every one of them is on her Scandal Planet hub:

• “Sin City” (2005). Nancy’s stage dance and the underwear scene, in black and white with the lights doing everything. Fellow cast member Carla Gugino’s Sin City scene is on SP too.
• “Sin City: A Dame to Kill For” (2014). Nancy again, nine years later.
• “Honey” (2003). The dance-studio role that made her a lead.
• “Into the Blue” (2005). The bikini dive everyone remembers.
• “Fantastic Four” (2005). Sue Storm in the blue suit.
• “Good Luck Chuck” (2007) and “Awake” (2007). Two 2007 roles, both on the hub.
• “The Killer Inside Me” (2010) and “Machete” (2010). Black lingerie in bed, then Rodriguez tough-girl heat.
• “Mechanic: Resurrection” (2016). The island bikini.

Confirmed vs. reported vs. my opinion

Confirmed: the Instagram post existed and is gone (USA Today, EW, Us, TMZ, Daily Mail all saw it and report its removal); the caption “Happy Halloween from Tonya … and Nancy”; the party, Vas J Morgan and Michael Braun’s “Hockey Horror” night on Oct. 31 (Us, Cosmopolitan, USA Today).

Reported: that the photos were still on Threads as of Monday (Daily Mail, USA Today); the costume details above; the comments quoted by Us and USA Today. No outlet has a statement from Alba or her team.

My read (opinion): deleting without a word kept the story alive another day. A one-line apology, or a one-line “it’s Halloween,” would have ended it. That’s my take, not anything her camp has said.

What to watch next

Three things: whether Alba or her reps finally say something (or the Threads post comes down too), whether Nancy Kerrigan or Tonya Harding is asked about it, and Harding’s Dec. 12 show in Vancouver, Washington, which is now guaranteed a question about Halloween. We’ll update this page if any of that happens.

FAQ

What was Jessica Alba’s Halloween costume?

Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan after the 1994 attack: a white minidress, tights, white skates and a knee bandage with fake blood. Her friend Kelly Sawyer went as Tonya Harding holding a baseball bat. The caption read “Happy Halloween from Tonya … and Nancy,” per USA Today and Us Weekly.

Did Jessica Alba apologize for the Nancy Kerrigan costume?

No. She deleted the Instagram post by Monday, Nov. 2, but has made no statement. USA Today, EW and Us Weekly all reached out for comment. The Daily Mail and USA Today reported the photos were still on Threads as of Monday.

Where did Jessica Alba wear the costume?

At Vas J Morgan and Michael Braun’s “Hockey Horror” Halloween party in Los Angeles on Oct. 31, themed on the hockey romances “Heated Rivalry” and “Off Campus,” according to Us Weekly and Cosmopolitan.

Has Jessica Alba played a character called Nancy before?

Yes. She played Nancy Callahan, the dancer at Kadie’s, in “Sin City” (2005) and “Sin City: A Dame to Kill For” (2014). Her Sin City scenes are on her Scandal Planet hub.

— Nico. One Nancy got her deleted. The other one made her a star, and her hub has every frame.

Fact-check: Scandal Planet Desk

What do you think? Fair game or too far? And should she have deleted it, apologized, or left it up? Tell us on X @celeb124.

Photos: the card and share graphic use Jessica Alba at Los Angeles Comic Con 2025 by Kevin Paul, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (an archival photo from Sept. 2025, not from Halloween). In-story photos are from Wikimedia Commons with the credit under each one; photos marked “Archival” are from earlier years. The costume photo itself is in the embedded New York Post post; we don’t re-host it. Scene stills are frames from the clips on her Scandal Planet hub.

Sources

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