(March 26, 2008-Los Angeles) Laila Ali, cohost of NBC’s American Gladiator and the youngest daughter of Muhammad Ali, is expecting her first child with husband former NFL player Curtis Conway.
Speaking exclusively to ESSENCE magazine for the May issue, Ali says, “I don’t know yet if we are having a boy or a girl, but I’m excited that I have a life inside me that my husband and I created.” The baby is due this fall.
Ali, 30, married Conway, 36, last July in Marina Del Rey, California. The newlyweds met through a mutual friend two years ago and have been a couple ever since. Her first marriage to former boxer Johnny “Yahyah” McClain ended in 2005. Conway was also married before and has three children.
“Curtis is very calm and has a quiet confidence, and he wanted what I wanted-to be married and have a family,” says the former boxer, who retired undefeated as the women’s super middleweight champion.
“I am 100 percent undeniably happy,” Ali says. “I’ve never been able to say that before.”
To read more on Laila Ali pick up the May 2008 issue of ESSENCE on newsstands April 5.