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Nowadays, most people probably associate George Foreman with the kitchen appliance he described as a “lean, mean, fat-reducing grilling machine,” but he also happens to be one of the greatest heavyweight boxers to ever step into the ring. He’s also lived a pretty fascinating life—as evidenced by a wild story about him smuggling two of his kids out of the Caribbean in the 1980s.
Foreman was an amateur when he won a gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics and turned pro a couple of years later. In 1972, he earned his first heavyweight title after defeating the legendary Joe Frazier via TKO, and by the time his boxing career came to an end in 1996, he’d posted an all-time record of 76-5 with the help of the 68 KOs he recorded.
The powerful puncher was married and divorced four times between 1971 and 1985 before tying the knot with the wife he remains with to this day. He has a whopping twelve children between those women, who collectively gave birth to seven daughters and five sons (all of whom are named George).
Foreman was married for the fourth time in 1982 to Andrea Skeete, who hailed from the Caribbean island of St. Lucia.
The following year, he woke up one morning to discover she’d left the United States for her homeland with his six-year-old daughter Freeda and six-month-old son George III in tow—and he wasted no time kicking off an incredibly dramatic rescue in order to bring them back to America.
George Foreman risked life and limb to smuggle his kids out of the Caribbean
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This wild saga was chronicled in a Sports Illustrated article that was published a year after Foreman staged his successful rescue attempt.
The boxer knew his wife had headed back to St. Lucia, but he also knew she had plenty of connections with high-ranking officials on the island that would make it difficult for him to execute his plan. He flew down to Barbados before arriving at his intended destination, but had to sneak past customs before checking into a hotel under a fake name.
From there, he doled out thousands of dollars worth of bribes to figure out where his kids had ended up. He was eventually able to track them to another hotel and enlisted the help of a woman to gain access to their room before grabbing them and heading back to his base of operations.
He’d planned on escaping the following day with the help of a private plane he’d charted, but things took a turn when he was woken up in the middle of the night by a group of heavily-armed police officers demanding he release the children. He informed them they’d have to kill him if they wanted to take his offspring, and he was able to leverage their status as American citizens to buy some more time.
The authorities eventually informed him he was expected to go to court in the morning to resolve the case, but he knew there was no chance he’d gain custody if he agreed to the summons. A few hours later, the trio got into a vehicle and pretended they were heading to the hearing before discretely slipping into a van he’d arranged to transport them to the airport with the help of another bribe.
Unfortunately, Foreman hit yet another snag, as he was informed every plane on St. Lucia had been grounded until he was tracked down. Thankfully, he was able to make his way to a nearby boat that was preparing to leave the island and paid the captain $5,000 to let him and the kids hop aboard.
He was eventually able to make it back to Barbados, where another St. Lucia native named Mary Joan Martelly helped him take care of the kids until they were able to board a flight back to America. The story has multiple happy endings, as Martelly married Foreman in 1985 and has stayed with him for close to 40 years.