Boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya has revealed he was “raped” by an older woman when he was a young teen — blaming it for his near-death descent into booze and drugs.
“Life’s been tough, man,” the 48-year-old pugilist told the Los Angeles Times as he admitted still struggling to cope with “all my s–t” from childhood that has left him still “f—ing burning” inside.
“I was raped at 13, from a woman, an older woman,” he said, describing her as “over 35” and striking when he was in Hawaii for a tournament.
“Thirteen, lost my virginity over being … being raped, basically,” he told the LA paper, which said that “his discomfort was evident” as the former champ spoke.
The fighter — who was himself accused of rape in 1999, which he has always categorically denied — long tried to suppress the “very traumatic” ordeal, he said.
“You’re living this life, the Golden Boy, but, ‘Oh s–t! That’s still there,'” he said of the alleged sex attack when he was “Little Oscar.”
Oscar De La Hoya revealed that when he was 13, he was raped by a much older woman, which started his descent into drugs and alcohol. Amy Sussman/Getty Images
De La Hoya, who had also been accused of rape in 1999, also said the reason for his delay in returning to the ring was fear. Jeff Katz / Liaison Agency“I never processed this, like, really thought how my feelings are reacting or processing,” he said in the interview, given ahead of his planned return to the ring this month after a 13-year retirement.
“Until one day it just comes out and you don’t know how to deal with it. And the way you deal with it is just boozing it up, because you want to try to forget,” he told the California paper.
De La Hoya admitted that he was still drinking in the weeks leading up to his fight against Manny Pacquiao, persuading himself that it was OK because he was imbibing high-end red wines from Napa Valley.
He said it was only about a year ago that he realized he was “going to throw my life away” and “couldn’t be drinking and doing drugs.”
His recovery came in an unexpected way — taking hallucinogenic mushrooms with a shaman.
“I feel it happened for a reason. I feel it saved me,” he said, saying it particularly helped heal his relationship with his mother.
Oscar De La Hoya said the encounter with the woman caused him to struggle through life coping with the idea of what happened. Chris Polk/Getty ImagesHe is now trying to repair the “big hole” left from quitting boxing, returning to take on former UFC champ Vitor Belfort at LA’s Staples Center on Sept. 11 in the main event of a pay-per-view show.
He admitted that “fear” had stopped him returning to the ring sooner.
“I just finally said, ‘You know what? I’m going do it. I’m going to do it for myself,'” he told the LA Times.
