Forced to Keep Her ‘Door Closed!’ Laila Ali’s Mother Veronica Porsche “Didn’t Feel Safe” Living With Muhammad Ali

Boxing legend Muhammad Ali was a pioneer on and off the court leading many to regard him as the greatest athlete of all time. However, the former heavyweight champion did have a plethora of personal issues which stand in the way of his near-perfect legacy.

Ali was married 4 times in his life and had nine children. However, his relationship with his third wife Veronica Porsche gave birth to his daughter Laila Ali, who went on to follow her father’s legacy becoming a world champion in the sport. Despite that, she detailed how her mother was sometimes afraid of Ali’s presence.

Laila Ali reveals her mother didn’t feel safe with her father

On the 12th page of her book Reach, the former middleweight champion revealed that her mother was forced to keep her door closed. Moreover, she also detailed how living in such a lavish environment was very new to her mother. In addition, what made living with Ali so difficult was her love for him.

“That’s one reason why my mother kept her door closed. I could imagine she wasn’t comfortable and didn’t feel safe in such an atmosphere. When she married, she had little life experience and was hardly her own person. Even more importantly she had fallen deeply in love. He was after all enormously powerful and charming. He genuinely cared for her” she wrote.

Read More: Gervonta Davis Makes Stunning Confession About Muhammad Ali

However, Laila would detail how her mother and father started to grow apart as time passed by in their marriage, resulting in a lot of hostility between her parents.

What made Veronica Porsche uncomfortable while living with boxing legend Muhammad Ali?

Laila wrote that her parents started growing apart due to Ali’s orthodox ways of thinking with regard to women. She stated that while Ali was fully invested in his religion, his ways were not compatible with Porsche’s way of living.

“As she matured as a women, though, the differences between them widened dramatically. My dad’s ideals were set by his religion. Women were to behave in certain ways, but, more and more, those ways didn’t fit my mother.” she wrote.

Ali was very stringent when it came to his religion, which is very conservative regarding women. However, this would be the reason why the two started growing apart leading to their split in 1986.

Watch This Story – When the daughter of The Greatest shared her side of the family story

What did you think about Laila revealing the truth about her parents? Let us know in the comments.