Laila Ali’s Mother Had to Fake Hitting Her Child to Satisfy Abusive Boyfriend’s Wishes

The daughter of boxing legend Muhammad Ali and former female middleweight champion Laila Ali had a far-from-perfect childhood. Despite being Ali’s daughter, she didn’t get to spend a lot of time with her father. Moreover, things would take a turn for the worse after Ali decided to divorce Laila’s mother and his second wife, Veronica Porche.

This would lead the former champion to live with her mother as her father remarried once again and grew more distant. Eventually, Poche would end up in an abusive relationship with her new boyfriend, Walter, who mistreated her, along with Laila and her sister Hana. In addition, this would garner feelings of hatred in Laila towards Walter for abusing her mother emotionally.

Laila Ali details her animosity toward her mother’s new boyfriend

On the 42nd page of her book Reach! Finding Strength, Spirit and Personal Power, she revealed that she was falling behind in school. However, this would go unnoticed, as Ali was not present physically while her mother was emotionally absent. She added that her animosity towards her mother’s new boyfriend intensified because he kept her mother behind locked doors.

“Meanwhile, my schoolwork was failing. No one really noticed—Dad was too far away physically and Mom too far away emotionally. Mom was lost behind that locked door. My intolerance intensified. When Walter made a rare appearance, I offered him nothing but contempt.” she wrote.

While Laila’s anger towards Walter escalated further, so did his anger towards Laila. However, he did not confront her directly but rather used Porche to discipline her daughter, which resulted in her having to pretend to beat her while he was not watching.

Laila Ali’s mother had to pretend to beat her to satisfy Walter

In the next lines, Laila claimed that Walter never raised his hand but instead asked Porche to do his dirty work. However, she added that her mother lacked the heart to beat her and would ask her to scream to sell that she was being disciplined. Laila claimed that she went along with this act and cried after it along with her mother.

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“His fury grew. Although he never hit me, he ordered Mom to do so. She didn’t have the heart, but she also lacked the strength to defy him. Her solution was to come over to our side of the house and ask me to fake it. “Scream,” she whispered, “while I hit the bed. He’ll think I’m doing what he wants.” I went along with the sad charade. It was so sad, in fact, that when it was over, Mom and I were both crying.” she added

Laila and her mother had to deal with a lot after their family broke up. This was made even harder by Ali who refused to offer any advice to her daughter even after learning about the troubles of his ex-wife and daughter. However, despite all the trials and tribulations, ‘SheBeeStingn’ managed to rise on her feet and follow in the footsteps of her father to become a world champion.

What did you think about Laila Ali’s mother having to fake-beat her? Let us know in the comments.

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