Former boxing promoter Frank Maloney, who is now living as a woman, has said her transgender struggle led her to attempt suicide.
The 61-year-old, now known as Kellie, guided boxer Lennox Lewis to lift the world heavyweight boxing title during a successful career.
Frank Maloney, the former boxing manager and promoter who helped Lennox Lewis become world heavyweight champion, has revealed he is preparing to undergo a sex change.
The 61-year-old, who has been married twice and has three children, has been living as a woman for the past two years and is now known as Kellie.
“I was born in the wrong body and I have always known I was a woman,” she told the Sunday Mirror.
“I can’t keep living in the shadows, that is why I am doing what I am today. Living with the burden any longer would have killed me.”
NHS guidelines state that a transsexual must live as their chosen sex for at least two years before undergoing a sex change operation.
The former boxing promoter appeared on Good Morning Britain in her first television interview about living as a woman.
The undisputed Heavyweight Boxing Champion said he "respects" his former boxing promoter Frank Maloney's decision to live life as a woman.