Laila Ali appeared on “Today” and “GMA” on Monday to talk about the life and legacy of her father, Muhammad Ali. Watch below.
As Extreme Entertainment has reported, Muhammad died last Friday at age 74 from complications of Parkinson’s Disease. Laila is one of the boxing great’s nine children, and her morning show appearances marked the first time she publicly spoke about his death. “I’m obviously really sad, but I’ve been sad for a long time,” she said on “GMA,” explaining, “Just watching my father struggling with Parkinson’s Disease.”
“You hold your head up and say, yeah, he’s doing great, but he’s trapped inside his body,” she went on. “So I have comfort in knowing that he’s not suffering anymore.” And Laila expressed gratitude that she and her siblings “all got to be with him as he passed away,” noting, “We sent him off in a very peaceful way.”
Looking back on her dad’s fame, Laila told Robin Roberts, “This man just transcends everything. Everybody just loves him. There isn’t anybody else like him. I don’t think there ever will be.” Over on “Today,” she spoke with Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie, saying, “My father, there isn’t much that I say about my dad that people don’t know, because he was pretty much an open book.”
But Laila admitted her dad feared dying, though she said of herself, “I prepared mentally for many years that one day I was going to lose my father, and the time has come. I think the whole world is sad. Anybody who ever loved him, and so many people do.”
“So I don’t feel alone. It’s not just my family. It’s the whole world,” she added. Check out both videos below.
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