“I Had All This Anger, I Felt Abandoned”: While Muhammad Ali Was Unaware of ‘Weak’ Mother, Daughter Laila Ali Fought Her Abusive Stepdad

Former female super middleweight champion Laila Ali reached every accomplishment she could in the sport of boxing like her father Muhammad Ali. Despite that, many speculate as to why she would choose to become a boxer, a sport usually attracts the underprivileged. However, although Laila’s upbringing might seem magical on the surface there were some very dark secrets to her past.

In addition, she even revealed that she chose fighting partly due to her father’s absence during her childhood. Muhammad Ali and Laila’s mother Veronica Proche separated in 1986 when she was just nine years old. This compiled with her father’s constant travels had an impact on young Laila mentally.

Laila Ali details how she got into altercations with her stepdad

On a podcast appearance back in 2020, she described why she started fighting professionally. Laila stated she often got into fights with her stepfather for treating her mother very poorly. Moreover, this anger would also be directed at her mother for letting herself be exploited.

“When people started you know speculating why am I a fighter was funny to me because I’m like these motherfu***rs just don’t know. I’ve been fighting my stepdad when I was a kid. I mean you know and that’s why all that started because I didn’t accept him, I didn’t accept the way he was treating my mom I watched my mom be weak. I tried to stand up for her then I got mad at her like you’re gonna let this person do this to you and to us,” she said.

Read More: ‘Betrayed’ by Her Father’s Brothers, Laila Ali Struggled to Deal With Her Insecurities for a Long Time

Following this, she also gave us an insight into her state of mind after Ali divorced her mother. She went on to detail how she was affected by Ali’s absence and the impact it had on her growing up without a father figure.

How Muhammad Ali made her daughter feel abandoned

The former middleweight champion then revealed that she was angry most of the time. She also describes how she felt abandoned by her father who was always in the middle of some political endeavor. However, she felt like she was the sacrifice for her father’s ambitions.

“I had all this anger, I felt abandoned. You know my dad lived in a different state. He never really know what was going on and so it’s like you understand that you know your father is the father to the world and he’s helping all these people, but you still have to be the sacrifice,” she added.

A father is certainly an important figure for any child growing up. However, Laila felt robbed of her childhood due to her father’s absence which according to her was the cost he had to pay. Despite all this, she has managed to overcome every hurdle thrown at her and even made her own legacy by stepping outside her father’s shadow.

What did you think about Laila Ali’s disturbing childhood? Let us know in the comments.

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