Background
Porsche was born in Louisiana on December 16, 1955 to Ethel and Horace Porche and is of Louisiana Creole descent.
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, Los Angeles, California. She graduated from Belmont High School in Los Angeles in 1973 and attended the University of Southern California.
Ali and Porsche began a relationship in 1974 while in Kinshasa, Zaire 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. Porsche and Ali were then married in Los Angeles in the summer of 1977.
They divorced in December 1986.
She 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-television documentary, Intimate Portrait: Laila Ali (2001) (television). In the film Ali, she was played by Michael Michele.
Both Porsche and Ali stated at the time that their relationship and other aspects of the film were inaccurately portrayed.