WORLD TOP SPORTS STARS: Billy Jean King personal life

Billie Jean King née Moffitt; born November 22, 1943 in Long Beach, California is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society. She is known for "The Battle of the Sexes" in 1973, in which she defeated Bobby Riggs, a former Wimbledon men's singles champion.
King is the founder of the Women's Tennis Association, the Women's Sports Foundation, and World Team Tennis, which she founded with her former husband, Lawrence King.
Contents
* 1 Personal life
* 2 Tennis career
o 2.1 Playing style and personality
o 2.2 The early years: 1959 through 1965
+ 2.2.1 1959
+ 2.2.2 1960
+ 2.2.3 1961
+ 2.2.4 1962
+ 2.2.5 1963
+ 2.2.6 1964
+ 2.2.7 1965
o 2.3 Prime competitive years: 1966 through 1975
+ 2.3.1 Overview of these years
+ 2.3.2 1966
+ 2.3.3 1967
+ 2.3.4 1968
+ 2.3.5 1969
+ 2.3.6 1970
+ 2.3.7 1971
+ 2.3.8 1972
+ 2.3.9 1973
# 2.3.9.1 Battle of the Sexes
+ 2.3.10 1974
+ 2.3.11 1975
o 2.4 The later years: 1976 through 1990
+ 2.4.1 1976
+ 2.4.2 1977
+ 2.4.3 1978
+ 2.4.4 1979
+ 2.4.5 1980
+ 2.4.6 1982
+ 2.4.7 1983
+ 2.4.8 1984–1990
o 2.5 Furthering the tennis profession
o 2.6 Coach of national teams
o 2.7 Grand Slam singles tournaments
o 2.8 Singles titles and career prize money
o 2.9 Major international team competitions
+ 2.9.1 Federation Cup
+ 2.9.2 Wightman Cup
* 3 Awards, honors, and tributes
* 4 Career statistics
* 5 Grand Slam singles finals
o 5.1 18 finals (12 titles, 6 runner-ups)
o 5.2 Records
* 6 Footnotes
* 7 General references
* 8 Further reading
* 9 External link
Personal life
Billie Jean Moffitt was born into a conservative Methodist family, the daughter of a fireman father and housewife mother. Her younger brother Randy Moffitt grew up to become a professional baseball player, pitching for 12 years in the major leagues for the San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros, and Toronto Blue Jays.
Billie Jean attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School. After graduating, she attended California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA) because her parents could not afford Stanford or the University of Southern California (USC). on September 17, 1965. In 1971, she had an abortion, revealed to the public in a Ms. Magazine article in 1972 by Lawrence without consulting Billie Jean in advance.[8] King said in her 1982 autobiography that she decided to have an abortion because she believed her marriage was not solid enough to bring a child into her family. Billie Jean and Lawrence divorced in 1987.
By 1968, King realized that she was interested in women, and in 1971, King began an intimate relationship with her secretary, Marilyn Barnett. King acknowledged the relationship when it became public in a May 1981 "palimony" lawsuit filed by Barnett, making King the first prominent professional female athlete to come out as a lesbian.[ King said that she had wanted to retire from competitive tennis in 1981 but could not afford to because of the lawsuit. "Within 24 hours [of the lawsuit being filed], I lost all my endorsements; I lost everything. I lost $2 million [$4,829,662 in current dollar terms] at least, because I had longtime contracts. I had to play just to pay for the lawyers. In three months I went through $500,000 [$1,207,416 in current dollar terms]. I was in shock. I didn't make $2 million in my lifetime, so it's all relative to what you make." King said in 1998 that Martina Navratilova was not supportive when King was outed, resulting in their relationship having a "very bad five years." about the lawsuit in 2007, 26 years after it was filed, King said:
“ It was very hard on me because I was outed and I think you have to do it in your own time. Fifty per cent of gay people know who they are by the age of 13. I was in the other 50%. I would never have married Larry if I’d known. I would never have done that to him. I was totally in love with Larry when I was 21. ”
Concerning the personal cost of concealing her sexuality for so many years, King said:
“ I wanted to tell the truth but my parents were homophobic and I was in the closet. As well as that, I had people tell me that if I talked about what I was going through, it would be the end of the women's tour. I couldn't get a closet deep enough. I've got a homophobic family, a tour that will die if I come out, the world is homophobic and, yeah, I was homophobic. If you speak with gays, bisexuals, lesbians and transgenders, you will find a lot of homophobia because of the way we all grew up. One of my big goals was always to be honest with my parents and I couldn't be for a long time. I tried to bring up the subject but felt I couldn't. My mother would say, "We’re not talking about things like that", and I was pretty easily stopped because I was reluctant anyway. I ended up with an eating disorder that came from trying to numb myself from my feelings. I needed to surrender far sooner than I did. At the age of 51, I was finally able to talk about it properly with my parents and no longer did I have to measure my words with them. That was a turning point for me as it meant I didn't have regrets any more.

Billy Jean King