Veronica Porche-Ali (December 16, 1955 – Present)
Marriage Term: June 19, 1977–July 1986
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At the time of meeting Muhammad Ali, Veronica Porche was 18 years old, attending the University of California, and working & volunteering as a poster girl promoting the “Rumble in the Jungle” fight in Zaire between Ali and George Foreman in 1974.
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Veronica & Ali began having an affair while Ali was still married to his second wife Belinda Boyd, Khalilah Camacho-Ali. Khalilah is quoted as having known about the affair and allowed Ali to “exercise his Muslim option to take a second wife (he is permitted four). Since then, Ali’s aides have explained ever-present Veronica as a traveling companion of Belinda’s; a cousin of Ali’s; a babysitter; and a close family friend. She has been introduced by friends as “Veronica Ali,” and Belinda once called her “Ali’s other wife.“
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Veronica and Ali had their first child, Hana, while he was still married to Khalilah.
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After divorcing Khalilah in 1977, Veronica and Ali were married the same year, June 19, 1977. They were married according to the Islamic tradition at the Presidential Compound in Nsele. At this time, she was pregnant with their second child, Laila Ali.
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Veronica and Ali had a total of two children while married:
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Hana Yasmeen Ali (February 1977 – Present)
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Laila Ali (December 30, 1977 – Present)
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Veronica and Ali divorced in 1986.
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