"My father said he'd rather me sleep with a different guy every night" - When Martina Navratilova shared her parents' reaction to her sexuality
Martina Navratilova came out of the closet a long time ago. But things were far tougher for her then as compared to now, since her own parents were against her sexuality.
Navratilova has won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, as well as 41 Major titles in doubles and mixed doubles. Her path to fame, however, had its challenges, especially in the year 1981 when the New York Daily News publicly outed her as bisexual (later gay) after she appeared for an interview with them.
The publication promised the American that they would not publish the article since there was a lot at stake. Navratilova was yet to get US citizenship and she felt that being openly homosexual would damage the reputation of the WTA Tour and cause her sponsors to drop her.
However, just days after she was granted American citizenship, the New York Daily News published the article titled, 'Martina fears Avon's call if she talks.' Avon was the WTA Tour's major sponsor back then.
They also used a quote that revealed Martina Navratilova's parents' negative reaction to her coming out. That hurt her the most, as she told the Dallas Morning News a few days after the controversy unfolded.
According to Navratilova, her father went as far as to express that he would have preferred her to be an 'alcoholic' or sleep with different men every night than be a part of the LGBTQIA+ community.
"I hope they don't see that (quote). Then, my father said he'd rather me be an alcoholic or sleep with a different guy every night than to be what I was," she said.
Martina Navratilova added that her parents eventually came around and accepted her for who she was.
"But that has changed. Now they have accepted it. They don't think I'm a bad person," the 67-year-old said.
Martina Navratilova is now happily married to her wife Julia Lemigova
Martina Navratilova and her wife Julia Lemigova's love story was years in the making.
Lemigova is a former Russian beauty queen who was crowned Miss USSR in 1990. She also turned heads as an openly gay housewife on Bravo TV's Real Housewives of Miami.
Navratilova and Lemigova met for the first time in a bar in Paris in 2000. But it was not until eight years later that the duo met again, during the French Open. That was when they began dating.
Martina Navratilova proposed to the 51-year-old while attending the 2014 US Open men's semifinal matches, on the big screen of the Arthur Ashe Stadium, and Lemigova said yes. They later tied the knot in December of that year.
"I have been waiting for the right time to ask Julia to marry me. I thought this was the right place and the right time to pop the question and thankfully I got a yes," Navratilova told the crowd.
The couple has been living happily together for nine years and has always had each other's back. The 18-time Grand Slam champion is even on good terms with her wife's daughters, Emma and Victoria.