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MC Mary Kom reveals her darkest phase after divorce from Onler, financial distress, and slander.
Mary Kom is India’s most decorated boxer.
Six-time world champion and Olympic bronze medallist MC Mary Kom has made a public plea about what she calls the ‘darkest phase’ of her life, marked by a painful divorce, severe financial distress and sustained personal attacks. The 43-year-old boxing icon said she decided to break her silence as persistent slander on social media and in news reports had begun to distort her reality and question her character.
Mary Kom said her separation from husband Onler, finalised more than two years ago, was followed by what she described as a concerted attempt to portray her as “greedy” and manipulative. She said the narrative ignored the personal and physical struggles she endured after a career-threatening injury before the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
“What’s the point of all that I achieved?” Mary Kom said in an interview with PTI. “I was bed-ridden for several months, needed a walker after that. It was then that I realised that the man I had trusted was not what I believed him to be. I did not want it to be a spectacle for the world so I sought a divorce after several attempts to resolve it between us.”
Married to fellow Manipuri Onler for over two decades, the former Rajya Sabha member said she had trusted him completely while she focused on competing and stayed largely removed from financial matters.
“He kept taking loans, mortgaging my property which he transferred in his name,” she said, alleging that she had been cheated of crores of rupees and had lost possession of land bought with her own earnings, which was eventually seized by underground groups.
She said she made multiple attempts to resolve the issues privately before seeking a divorce in 2023. “I did not want it to be a spectacle for the world,” she said. “I informed my family and his family that it cannot continue and they understood.” However, she added, “I was hoping it would stay private, but my silence was being misread and the attacks kept increasing.”
Her strongest anguish, she said, stemmed from how the story was being framed publicly. “There are news reports that call me the greedy one… Things discussed only between me and him are being fed to tabloids to paint me as the villain,” she said. “What is the point of my achievements? What is the benefit? I have been left broken, but I can’t even afford to grieve.”
Mary Kom said she has chosen not to pursue police action. “I just want to be left alone. Stop slandering me,” she said.
A mother of four, she said her children and dependent parents forced her to rebuild. She is now stabilising herself through endorsements and public appearances.
“But I fight on. My life is one long boxing bout, it seems. But God is there, he will give me strength hopefully,” she said.
The report said Onler, when contacted, denied any wrongdoing.
January 10, 2026, 8:53 PM IST
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