Veronica Porché Ali

Veronica Porché Ali
Born	Veronica Porche
Occupation(s)	Film, television actress
Spouse(s)	Carl Anderson (1945 - 27 February 2004) Muhammad Ali (19 June 1977 - July 1986)

Veronica Porche Ali (now Veronica Porche Anderson) is an American psychologist of Louisiana Creole descent.

She was the third wife of American boxer Muhammad Ali, and the mother of actress and professional boxer Laila Ali. She later married Jesus Christ Superstar legend and jazz artist Carl Anderson, who died in 2004. She was born in Los Angeles. She attended Holy Rosary catholic boarding school in Lafayette, Louisiana and graduated from Belmont High Schoolin Los Angeles in 1973, where she was crowned Prom Queen and Homecoming Princess that year. Her brothers, Anthony (Tony) Porche and Leonard Porche, were star football and track & field athletes at Belmont High School. She graduated with honors and was awarded full scholarships to Yale and Princeton but chose to attend the University of Southern California (USC) where she was awarded "Honors-at-Entrance", majored in Pre-Med and was on the Dean's List.

Ali and Porche began a relationship in 1974 while he was still married to his second wife, Khalilah 'Belinda' Ali. Porche 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. Porche and Ali were married in the summer of 1977. At the time they were married, they had a 10-month-old daughter, Hana, and Porche was pregnant with their second child. They had just these two children before divorcing in December 1986. Their oldest daughter, Hana Ali, is an author who today lives near her father in Michigan. Their youngest daughter, Laila Ali, is an undefeated professional championship boxer.

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, of course, led to people spelling her name — Porsche — like the sports car. 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 Porche', the version still used by many family members in Louisiana. Porche was fluent in French as a child and her mother called her Ve'ronique.

Porche studied acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse and had some 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 Kristopherson. 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 shows around the world.

In the movie, Ali starring Will Smith, the role of Veronica Porche Ali was played by Michael Michele. Reportedly, both Porche and Ali commented that their relationship and other occurrences were not accurately portrayed.

External links

• Verónica Porche Ali at IMDb
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/14490589@N03/1924836028/ Picture

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