Muhammad Ali's 9 Children: All About the Boxing Legend's Sons and Daughters

Mar. 15, 2025

Laila Ali poses with her father, Muhammad Ali after her 10 round WBC/WIBA Super Middleweight title bout with Erin Toughill.Photo:Ed Mulholland/WireImage

Ed Mulholland/WireImage

The record-breaking heavyweight champion, whodied in June 2016, was married four times and welcomed his children with five women. Despite their big, blended family, Ali’s daughter Miya toldLipTalk Podcastin 2022 that the Olympic athlete “made sure that each of us had special attention.”

Hana shared a similar sentiment in her 2018 book,At Home with Muhammad Ali: A Memoir of Love, Loss and Forgiveness.“Although our stories differ, we share the fact that throughout our lives, our father showered us with unconditional love and affection,” she wrote, perThe Daily Mail.

The siblings’ lives occasionally intersected. As Hana explained in her book, she and her sisterLaila, who were a product of Muhammad’s third marriage to Veronica Porché, spent time with their brothers and sisters growing up. “Every summer, my father brought his children together at our house,” she wrote.

Alionce spokeabout his desire to balance his sport with good parenting. “I tried to be the greatest boxer in the world and a good parent, too,” he said, perEsquire Middle East. “I had instant feedback on my success as a boxer. Often, parents don’t really know if what they are doing is right or wrong until their child is grown and it is too late to change any of the decisions.”

Maryum told theLos Angeles Timesin 2016 that her father was able to unite his family once more before his death. “We celebrated his 74th birthday on Jan. 17,” she said. “My sister Rasheda put together a family pictorial slide show of the grandkids and the kids and we were just having fun. That’s such a blessing that his last big family gathering was with everybody at his house. We were just celebrating his birthday, celebrating his life.”

Before his death, Ali shared his admiration for his kids: “Whatever my failings as a parent, I am very proud of all my children," he said, perEsquire Middle East. “It wasn’t easy for them to make their own way with such a controversial and public father.”

Here is everything to know about Muhammad Ali’s nine children: Maryum, Rasheda, Jamillah, Muhammad Ali Jr., Khaliah, Miya, Hana, Laila and Asaad Amin.

Maryum “May May” Ali, 56

Maryum Ali attends the “Blood Brothers” Screening during 2021 Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival on August 09, 2021.Arturo Holmes/Getty

Arturo Holmes/Getty

Ali and his second wife, actress Khalilah Ali (née Belinda Boyd), welcomed their first child, Maryum “May May” Ali, on June 18, 1968.

According to theLos Angeles Times, she remained close to her father as an adult, regularly driving from her home in Los Angeles to visit him in Arizona. “The time he had with us, he was really trying to build up our character,” she said.

Though she began her career as a comedian and rapper, Maryum found her calling in social work, focusing on juvenile delinquency prevention and youth development for more than 15 years.

In the early 2000s, the activist became an advocate for Parkinson’s disease awareness. Ali announced his diagnosis of the illness in 1984. “Once my father began tounderstand his diseaseand the family did as well, everyone was happier,” she told PEOPLE in 2016. “This diagnosis doesn’t mean your life is over.”

In 2003, Maryum released a children’s book about her father’s life titledI Shook Up the World.She also appeared on a 2016 episode ofFamily Feudwith her siblings Miya, Hana, Laila, and Ali’s third wife, Veronica.

Maryum now works as a public speaker, according toher website bio. She credits her late father for shaping her character, telling theLos Angeles Times, “I’m the woman that I am today because of him. I really listened to his lessons. How to be a respectful woman, how not to let men chip away at your esteem, how not to get involved in the dark side of society, in bad habits; stay healthy, watch who your friends are.”

She added: “I loved those kind of conversations about our spirit and about our purpose in life. For me, those were the best moments with my dad.”

Miya Ali

Miya Ali and Larry Holmes attend the IWC Flagship Store opening on April 25, 2012 in New York City.Neil Rasmus/BFA/Shutterstock

Neil Rasmus/BFA/Shutterstock

Ali and Patricia Harvell had Miya in 1972.

Growing up, she lived apart from her dad, though he occasionally invited her to his home in L.A., according to Jonathan Eig’s 2017 bookAli: A Life. The boxer also came to visit Miya, making a special trip to her school when her classmates refused to believe he was her father. “That meant more to me than words can explain,” she said.

In her older years, Miya moved in with Ali in order to attend college in Michigan.“My father was a lot of fun, he was more like a friend,” Miya toldLipTalk Podcastin 2022. You could talk to him about whatever. … I guess that’s why I’m strong.”

The former hotel worker split from her high school sweetheart — “It just didn’t work out, because people grow apart,” she said on the podcast — and she has a son namedMichael.

According to her Instagram page, she is a brand ambassador for her younger sister Laila’s brand,Laila Ali Lifestyle.

Rasheda Ali, 54

Rasheda Ali attends the Telluride Film Festival on September 02, 2021.Vivien Killilea/Getty

Vivien Killilea/Getty

Ali and Khalilah welcomed twin girls, Rasheda and Jamillah, on Aug. 21, 1970.

Rasheda toldThe Independentin 2017 that while Ali was traveling for much of her childhood, she was able to get to know her dad better in later years. “Fortunately, as we got older and dad had more time and we were out of college, we were able to spend more time with him,” she said. “We would travel with him and do things that we were not able to do when we were a lot younger and in school.”

Together with Jamillah, Rasheda attended Western Illinois University, where they studied mass communications, per theChicago Tribune.

Rasheda became a mother herself in 1998 with the birth of a son, Biaggio Ali Walsh, whom she shares with her husband Bob Walsh, and again in 2000, when the couple’s second son,Nico Ali Walsh, was born. Their younger son is a professional boxer while their elder sonis an MMA fighter.

Like her big sister Maryum, Rasheda is also an advocate for those with Parkinson’s. In 2005, she published the children’s bookI’ll Hold Your Hand So You Won’t Fall: A Child’s Guide to Parkinson’s Diseasein an effort to address kids’ most commonly asked questions about the condition.

When Ali died in 2016, Rasheda was at his bedside with Jamillah and posted a sweet tribute to her father onX (formerly Twitter), calling him her closest companion. “The Greatest Man that ever lived,” she wrote. “Daddy my best friend and my hero.”

She also vowed to continue his work, tellingEntertainment Tonight, “I promised my dad on the day he died, ‘We will carry on your legacy for loving and giving.’ That’s what’s important to us right now.”

In 2021, Rasheda appeared in a docuseries dedicated to her father simply titled,Muhammad Ali.

Jamillah Ali-Joyce, 54

Jamillah Ali-Joyce arrives for The Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards on September 23, 2017 in Louisville, Kentucky.Duane Prokop/Getty

Duane Prokop/Getty

Along with her twin Rasheda, Ali and Khalilah welcomed Jamillah on Aug. 21, 1970.

Jamillah said in a 2022 interview with radio stationWGVU35that though Ali didn’t live with her, he visited quite often. “When he did, a typical situation with us would be he would love to tote us around, go to restaurants, go to nice places,” she said.

Jamillah also toldThe Mirrorin June 2022, “We loved spending summers [at our dad’s Los Angeles mansion] because his goal was to get all of us [children] together. We all had different mothers. He wanted us to all get to know each other because we lived in different states.”

She explained the effects of this quality time to WGVU35. “To this day, we are close to one another because of him,” Jamillah said.

After attending Western Illinois University with her sister and earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Jamillah tried her hand at acting in 1994 with a role as an officer inBeyond Desire.

Jamillah has worked as a job counselor for the Illinois Secretary of State Employment for over 20 years and also helps to raise funds for several Chicago charities. She lives in the city with her husband, Michael Joyce, and their three children, Nadia, Amira and Jake.

Khaliah Ali, 50

Khaliah Ali attends the 2023 Music in Action Awards on September 21, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California.Leon Bennett/Getty

Leon Bennett/Getty

Ali and Wanda Bolton (now known as Aaisha) had Khaliah in June 1974.

She wrote in a proposal for a memoir calledButterflies and Bees: A Woman’s Search for Her Father,that she grew up at Ali’s training camp in Pennsylvania near her siblings.

Khaliah described Ali as “loving” toNBC Newsin 2016, saying, “As a kid, I struggled with my weight, but he would perpetually tell me how beautiful I was, how smart I was. He used to call me ‘Madame President.’ " She added, “He was the proudest, lovingest, most doting father in the world.”

Khaliah added: “Because we’re together, the world is a better place.”

The pairwed on Oct. 6, 2024, aftergetting engagedjust three months prior.

“This is the happiest we’ve ever been outside the birth of our children,” the bride told PEOPLE. “We never thought this kind of love existed. It’s so seamless and easy.”

Muhammad Ali Jr.

Muhammad Ali Jr. listens to opening remarks at a Congressional forum “Ali v. Trump: The Fight for American Values” on March 9, 2017, in Washington, DC.Mike Theiler/UPI/Shutterstock

Mike Theiler/UPI/Shutterstock

Ali and Khalilah welcomed their son Muhammad Jr. in 1972.

Growing up with Maryum, Rasheda and Jamillah, Muhammad Jr. told theNew York Postin 2014 that he saw his father “all the time” as a child. “He made sure he was there, would get all the siblings together, and never kept us a secret from each other,” he said. “I was proud of my daddy. Fame and fortune meant nothing, I just saw him as my daddy.”

Muhammad Jr. also recalled family trips to Pennsylvania, where his dad had a training camp. “We all went. It was all the family, including my stepsisters Laila and Hana,” he said. “We stayed in log cabins, ride horses, watch him train, jump ropes and eat all the time as a family.”

In January 2023, Muhammad Jr. became the subject of a documentary titledMy Father Muhammad Ali: The Untold Story, which chronicled his struggles in adulthood, including drug addiction. “[I wanted to get better] because I want to better my life,” Muhammad Jr., who was pursuing his GED in 2022, later toldThe Sun.

In 2023, the younger Muhammad, who told theNew York Postthat he was bullied as a child, set up theMuhammad Ali Legacy Continuesorganization to help kids struggling with bullying and to promote anti-racism.

Muhammad Jr. has three children: Saliah, Ameera and Shakera.

Hana Ali, 48

Hana Ali.Hana Ali Instagram

Hana Ali Instagram

Ali and his third wife, Veronica, welcomed their daughter Hana on Aug. 6, 1976.

According to Hana’s 2018 bookAt Home with Muhammad Ali: A Memoir of Love, Loss and Forgiveness,her experience growing up in Fremont, Calif., was a “fairy tale,” if a little chaotic. “I would get home from school to find homeless families sleeping in our guest room,” she wrote, perThe Daily Mail. “[My dad] would see them on the street, pile them into his Rolls-Royce and bring them home.”

“I remember him eating with us every night when he was home, telling me stories until I fell asleep and waking me up with kisses every morning,” she wrote. “I remember him trying to braid my hair before school and walking me there with two uneven ponytails. I was proud of my crooked ponytails."

Hana concluded, “He made me feel as though I was the most special little girl in the world.”

The author previously published several other books focused on her father, including 2003’sTheSoul of a Butterfly, which she co-wrote with her dad, and 2000’sMore Than a Hero.

According toHachette Book Group, she is also a freelance writer for CNN.

In addition to her writing, Hana has appeared in several documentaries about her father, including 2013’sThe Trials of Muhammad Aliand 2014’sI Am Ali. She lives in L.A. with her husband, mixed martial artist Kevin Casey, according toHarper Collins.

Laila Ali, 47

Laila Ali attends The 2019 ESPYs on July 10, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty

Ali and Veronica welcomed their daughter Laila on Dec. 30, 1977.

She opened up toRefinery 29in 2017 abouther childhood. “I had nannies; my dad was traveling all the time. You can’t be fighting for the world and be home for dinner with your kids," she said.

To cope with her frustrations, the future entrepreneur got her first job at McDonald’s before starting her first business at 18. “I started my nail salon before I started boxing. It was called Laila’s Nail Studio,” Laila recalled toKTLAin 2022.

Several years later, Laila became a boxer. Ali did not initially support his daughter’s decision to follow in his professional footsteps, with Laila telling PEOPLE in 2022 that her father “wasn’t happy” about it. “He literally tried to talk me out of it," she said. “I said, ‘Dad, if I get knocked down, I am going to get back up just like you did.’ ”

Despite his misgivings, Ali attended several of Laila’s matches, including her 2001 fight against Jacqui Frazier-Lyde, the daughter of his former rival, Joe Frazier. The boxing star was also scheduled to appear at Laila’sMadison Square Gardendebut in 2006.

Laila retired from the sport in 2007 as an undefeated super middleweight and light heavyweight champion. In addition, she earned the respect of her father. “[He told me] he was wrong [about me boxing] and that … he was proud of me, and that just brought us both to tears," Laila told PEOPLE in 2022.

In addition to her boxing career, Laila appeared on several television shows over the years: She was revealed to be the panda onThe Masked Singerin 2019 and she was featured onCelebrity Wife Swap,Chopped:All-Stars,Home Made SimpleandTheNewCelebrity Apprentice.

Today, Laila runs her own lifestyle brand, Laila Ali Lifestyle.

Asaad Amin Ali

Asaad Amin attends the 2016 Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards on September 17, 2016 in Louisville, Kentucky.Stephen J. Cohen/Getty

Stephen J. Cohen/Getty

Ali and his fourth wife, Lonnie Ali, adopted son Asaad when he was 5 months old.

Together, they raised Asaad in a small town in Michigan. “We had a farm,” the youngest Ali told theUniversity of Louisville alumni organization. “It was somewhere to get away from everything.”

Asaad attended and played baseball for the southern school and went on to work for the Chicago White Sox before coaching college baseball.

According to hisInstagram bio, Asaad is currently a multimedia content producer for the University of Louisville’s athletics department.

Asaad has welcomed a daughter and a son with his wife Rachel Ali, whom he met during their freshman year of college.

source: people.com