| Veronica Porsche | |
|---|---|
| Born | Veronica Porche December 16, 1955 Louisiana, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress/Psychologist |
| Spouse | Carl Anderson (? – February 23, 2004)[1] Muhammad Ali (June 19, 1977 – July 1986) |
Veronica Porsche Ali (aka Dr. Veronica Porsche) is an American professional psychologist and the former wife of boxing legend Muhammad Ali.
Porsche was born in Louisiana on December 16, 1955 to Ethel and Horace Porche and is of Louisiana Creole descent. She attended Holy Rosary Catholic boarding school in Lafayette, Louisiana before moving with her parents to Echo Park, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. She graduated from Belmont High School in Los Angeles in 1973. Her brothers, Anthony (Tony) Porche and Leonard Porche, were football and track & field athletes at Belmont High School. Porsche graduated high school and attended the University of Southern California (USC), majoring in Pre-Medicine.
She was the third wife of American boxer Muhammad Ali, and is the mother of his two daughters, actress and undefeated professional boxer Laila Ali[2] and author Hana Yasmeen Ali. Ali and Porsche began a relationship in 1974 while in Kinshasa, Zaire and were married at the Presidential Compound in N'Sele according to the Islamic tradition when Porsche was 18 years old. Porsche was one of the four poster girls who had promoted the Rumble in the Jungle fight in Zaire versus George Foreman; which led to erroneous reports that she was a professional model before meeting Ali. Porsche and Ali were then married in Los Angeles in the summer of 1977. They divorced in December 1986.
Prior to meeting Ali, she spelled her last name Porche. As her fame grew, and she began to have contact with reporters and other media, she began to tell them that her name was pronounced "like the sports car". This led to people spelling her name Porsche. Her name appears on documents using both spellings. Reportedly, she favors the style and sophistication of the Porsche spelling, though her family name was originally Porché, the version still used by many family members in Louisiana. Porsche was fluent in French as a child and her mother called her Véronique.
Porsche studied acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse to overcome shyness and had limited experience as an actress. She played a tour guide, Ranger Emily, in the 1986 film Terror on Alcatraz and made a cameo appearance in "Freedom Road" starring Ali and Kris Kristofferson. She co-hosted a segment of "Good Morning, New York" and appeared as herself in a made-for-TV documentary, Intimate Portrait: Laila Ali (2001) (TV) and in many other broadcasts and television appearances around the world.
In the movie Ali, starring Will Smith, the role of Veronica Porsche Ali was played by Michael Michele. Both Porsche and Ali commented that their relationship and other occurrences were not accurately portrayed. There has been much misinformation about Porsche's character and background. Ever elusive and private, Porsche remains a mystery.
In 1992 Porsche-Ali married jazz artist Carl Anderson. Anderson was probably most noted for his portrayal of "Judas" in the broadway show Jesus Christ Superstar and the 1973 movie of the same name. Veronica and Carl traveled together in the mid 1990s when Carl reprised his Judas role and toured the United States. Anderson died of leukemia in 2004. In May 2007, Veronica appeared with her two daughters, Laila and Hana, on the American TV series Dancing with the Stars.[3]