Mary Joan Martelly

Mary Joan Martelly is a philanthropist famous as the wife of former American professional boxer and entrepreneur George Foreman. 

She was born in Mon Repos, a small town in St. Lucia.

For Amazing Articles Of Your Favorite Celebrities, 
Stay Tuned To vergewiki

Early life

Mary was raised alongside her seven siblings, five sisters and two brothers. She is the third child of her parents. 

She attended Mon Repos High School and was good at sports while at High School. 

Mary's father sadly passed away at the age of 44, after which Mary and her siblings took jobs to make end meets. 

She worked at a Chinese restaurant and in a clothing store before taking up a babysitting job. 

It was during her babysitting job that she got an opportunity to go to the United States. 

She went to the United States to testify for the Foreman in a custody battle because she was the caretaker of Foreman’s kids when they were in Barbados.

She and Foreman fell in love during Foreman’s custody battle

Mary is the fifth wife of George Foreman. Prior to marrying her, her husband was married four times. 

After his fourth divorce from Andrea Skeete in 1985, he married Mary the same year. 

Mary was on a temporary visa when she flew to the United States to testify for Foreman on the custody battle with Skeete. 

According to Mary, she was there for six months, but Foreman had already fallen for her at that time. 

So when the time was approaching for her to return, Foreman didn’t allow her. He took her to the movie and disappeared for a while, saying he would be right back. 

He came with a little diamond ring in his hand and asked her to marry him, and Mary said, “Yes.”

Mary gushed about Foreman, saying he was a nice guy and reminded her of her dad. 

Foreman, after a near-death experience suffering from exhaustion and a heart stroke after his fight with boxer Jimmy Young, retired from his career in 1977. 

Two years after he married Mary, he decided to return to the ring. She supported her husband throughout, although she didn’t know anything about his career. 

She said she had never seen him boxing before. At the time, Foreman’s people were not working for him, so it was only her helping him.

According to Mary, the main reason for Foreman’s comeback was also to help fund a charity he had created, George Foreman Youth Center, a foundation that aids children who can’t afford college. 

She accompanied him in his philanthropical work because she emphasized education. 

She didn’t get an opportunity to go to college, although she wanted to, so she wanted children not to be deprived of education. 

Besides that, she and her husband have also volunteered in the AIDS campaign to raise awareness about the diagnosis of AIDS in children. 

She is the mother of five 

Mary is the mother of five grown-up kids, who she shares with her husband. 

She shares three sons, Geroge IV, George V, and George VI, and two daughters, Natalie and Leola. 

Besides that, she is also a stepmom to Foreman’s two sons, George Jr. and George III, and five daughters, Freeda, Michi, Georgetta, Isabella, and Courtney. 

Isabella and Freeda were adopted in 2009 and 2012, respectively. Freeda sadly passed away in 2019 at the age of 42. 

The cause of her death was suicide. She had a 5-1 record as a boxer.

Foreman named all of his sons George, but what inspired him to give his sons the same names? 

During an interview with Graham Bensinger, he explained that he met his biological father lately in his life. 

By the time he met his biological, he was already a heavyweight champion of the world and a grown-up man, so he didn’t want his children to end up in that position. 

He wanted his sons to have something in common, so he gave them all the same names. 

“I tell them if one of us goes up, then we all go up, if one goes down, we all go down together. It’s a family name”, he said. 

He humorously added that he tells his sons either to live up to the name or change it.

Besides that, he also talked about his successful marriage with Mary when his other marriages failed. 

He said he always thought someone needed him, but when he met Mary, he needed her, and Mary always knew he needed her. 

That’s the difference, he added.

Net Worth

Her net worth is currently under review. As of now, we have the net worth of her husband. 

Her husband, George Foreman, has a mouth-watering of $300 million, which he has amassed from his successful boxing career and successful business career.

Age

1. She was born on the 17th of March, 1963. She is currently 60 years old.