SON’S FURY AS
A FAMILY rift over Muhammad Ali’s £40million fortune has broken into all-out war and his skint brother looks to be the biggest casualty.
Destitute Rahman Ali – who fears he may have the same degenerative Parkinson’s Disease which blighted Ali for decades – won’t get a penny after years of feuding with his brother’s wife Lonnie.
While their bitter dispute rumbles on, there are also tensions between Lonnie and other members of the family.
And Muhammad Ali Jnr and his seven sisters are at loggerheads with brother Asaad, who was adopted by their dad and Lonnie in 1986. Lonnie, 59, was the star’s full-time nurse before becoming wife No 4.
The unseemly row will horrify millions of Ali’s fans as his name is dragged through the mud – and quite possibly the courts if any relatives contest the will.
Muhammad Jnr lifted the lid on the row in an interview with the Sunday Mirror in which he:
Said his father talks to him from beyond the grave.
Indicated his uncle won’t get a thing from Ali’s estate – but hopes relatives will give him a cut from their share.
Explained who gets what – and when – is still being ironed out, but the family expects “to go through hell”.
Revealed relatives met up to discuss the will in Los Angeles but Rahman, 73, was banned from the gathering.
Muhammad Jnr revealed the depth of the bad feelings between his uncle and Lonnie.
For years she was accused of being a gold-digger who controlled Ali’s fortune – claims which infuriated her.
Rahman claimed he was banned from seeing Ali in his twilight years and from visiting the legend on his death bed.
The three- times world heavyweight champion died in June, aged 84.
Muhammad Jnr, 44, said: “Rahman is really hurt because Lonnie didn’t invite him to the family part of the funeral. He was meant to be at the hospital, but she didn’t tell him about that. He’s hurt worse than all of us, I pray for him. He wasn’t able to say goodbye. He wasn’t there when they pulled the plug. He’s not doing so good. He was born with a chemical imbalance and can’t remember things. He would forget to go to work and got fired. This isn’t going to help his health. His life is really bad. He would benefit from the will the most. I’ll give him some... I feel we all should. It could be the final nail in the coffin if we don’t help him.”
A close friend of the boxer, Howard Gosser, once alleged Lonnie had Rahman arrested for moving into his late parents’ house and removing furniture.
At the time of Ali’s death, Rahman claimed in the Sunday Mirror: “I believe Lonnie tied the knot with my brother just for the money. She orchestrated the entire thing and it’s not just me who thinks it, his children do too.
“We’ve all seen how she talked down to him. It wasn’t nice away from the cameras.”
Muhammad Jnr had previously slated Lonnie too, but he says any rifts have been healed. Now he and his stepmother are working together to divide Ali’s estate. He s said: “In my father’s death, h he did something that he c couldn’t do in his life and that i is get us together. I wish he c could see it. It’s funny how d death brings people closer.
“Half my sisters I wouldn’t n normally speak to, so it’s like a family reunion all over a again. I feel the love. We talk b by phone, Facebook, Facet time, it’s all come together.
“And with Lonnie, we’re g getting to the point where all t the issues have been squashed. I’ll call her to see how she’s doing, trying to be there as her rock.
“We talked day and night when we were in California. It was a coming together and we’re sworn to secrecy.
“We were able to be brutally honest, and I saw how things were misunderstood. Lonnie had my father’s best interests at heart, I now understand that.
“She’s a good-hearted person. I don’t have those ill feelings any more towards her, I admit I was partly wrong.”
But while Muhammad Jnr and Lonnie have found peace, things are not so sweet with his brother Asaad, who has also been excluded from family meetings. Asaad, 30, was adopted by Lonnie and Ali as a baby in 1986. Muhammad Jnr said: “I don’t talk to my brother at all . I went to Kentucky last month to see my u n c l e , my father’s grave, the house where they grew up, and then on to the
There’s a lot of hell to go through... Dad’s will might kick up trouble MUHAMMAD ALI JNR ON FALLOUT OVER FORTUNE