George Foreman's Wife Mary Joan Martelly Discussed Their Love Story
George Foreman's wife Mary Joan Martelly was his fifth wife, but the union lasted.
Foreman's family posted a statement confirming his death. He died on March 21, 2025, the statement says. It is accompanied by a photo that shows him surrounded by relatives.
Foreman’s wives were, in order from most recent to oldest, Mary Joan Martelly, Andrea Skeete, Sharon Goodson, Cynthia Lewis, and Arienne Calhoun.
In July 2024, Foreman had been married to his last wife, Mary Joan Martelly, for more than 40 years, People reported., adding that they had seven kids together. According to People, Martelly was "born and raised on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia."
In 2014, she spoke in an interview on video with the University of Houston, which referred to her as Mary Joan Foreman.
“I didn’t know anything about George’s career before, I’ve never seen him box before, I didn’t even know him as a boxer, but I helped him all through it,” she said in that interview.
Of her earlier life, she said, “I loved sports in school. School was really fun interestingly, 'cause you grew up with the same set of children from kindergarten all the way up to high school, so everyone knew everyone."
She described helping him with a custody dispute and also how he wanted her to stay in the United States.
“We were going to the movies," she said in the video. "He says, ‘I’ll be right back,’ and he came back with a little ring, you could barely see the diamond, and he’s like, ‘Can you marry me?’ ” she recalled. “And I was like, 'I didn’t know what to say,' but I went, ‘Okay, yes.’ ”
The couple made their home in Huffman, Texas.
Foreman's wife once talked him out of returning to boxing, saying, “Isn’t that the way you want to leave?”He then retired.