................The JazzBites Show ..............

KELLIE MALONEY

PULLING NO PUNCHES

My guest on JAZZBITES this week forged a formidable career in the elitist world of professional boxing over three decades in Great Britain. Previously known as the accomplished promoter and manager to the former British World Heavyweight Champion Lennox Lewis, she began life as Francis ‘Frank’ Maloney, and recently underwent gender reassignment surgery after years of struggling with personal identity issues. Today, as Kellie Maloney, she is carving out a new life and career in the male-dominated arena of professional boxing management, and talks about her spats with US boxing giant Don King, her time in the Celebrity Big Brother house on British television, the break up of her marriage, the support of her family, and future plans to speak up for those who are fighting their own personal demons with gender identity all over the world.

[Photo Courtesy of Celebrity Big Brother, Channel 5 Television, UK]

Former Undisputed British World Boxing Champion Lennox Lewis talks to The Daily Mail about his support for former manager and mentor Kellie Maloney.

Listen to Kellie's interview with DON COOKSON from The Pulse on US Radio Station WZON on Thursday, 30th April.

Kellie's exciting new autobiography ~ FRANKLY KELLIE: Changing The Wrapping ~ is due for release on 6th August 2015. Details are below and courtesy of Blink Publishing:

Blink Publishing has acquired the rights to Kellie Maloney’s autobiography Frankly Kellie: Changing the Wrapping. The story of Kellie Maloney is unique. A boy named Frank, born in Peckham, South London, during the 1950’s to Irish working class parents, who went on to earn fame and fortune in the tough macho world of professional boxing. A husband twice married and a father of three daughters. It is also the story of a human being battling against the inner turmoil of knowing they have been born into the wrong body. Frank was one of the world’s most successful boxing promoters, guiding Lennox Lewis to the world heavyweight title. But in August 2014 he revealed to the world that he had always wanted to be a woman and was undergoing gender realignment surgery. With that, Frank became Kellie publicly as well as privately. Told from the heart with honesty and integrity, the book takes the reader on a journey through the transgender process - both the physical and emotional side - and celebrates the life of an incredible individual. Kellie talks openly about the years of anguish and torment, recounting extracts from her diary and recalls the emotional rollercoaster she endured telling her family and loved ones. She says: “All my life I’d lived a lie. I couldn’t go on living like that because it was slowly destroying me. I wanted to be a woman. It was time to stop being Frank and to start being Kellie. I simply wanted to be true to myself, I wasn’t having a brain transplant. All I was really doing was changing the wrapping.”