If you know anything about wrestling in the 1950s, you knew Fabulous Moolah in all her glory.
Mary Lillian Ellison kept us all entertained with flying drop kicks, flying head scissors, and hair-pulling body slams. Fabulous Moolah spent more than 50 years as the leading lady in the women's wrestling circuit.
In 2007, Fabulous Moolah had shoulder replacement surgery which unfortunately lead to her death. According to her daughter, the iconic wrestler most likely died from a heart attack or blood clot.
However, even after her death Fabulous Moolah is well-respected in the wrestling world. What most people may not realize, however, is just how scandalous her life was!
Continue reading to find out about her alleged sexual exploitation and corruption.
Fabulous Moolah and her husband, Buddy Lee, ran a school for female wrestles many decades ago, and all the stories about it seemed to be riddled with darkness. In 1957, Sweet Georgia Brown, another female wrestler, attended Moolah's school with the hopes of becoming as big an icon as her teacher. Brown left her siblings, as well as her own child behind so she could go on the road with Moolah and her other female students. The intention was to make a lot of money, but the result was far from it.
Brown's kids revealed in an interview that Moolah and her husband allegedly stiffed Brown's family on the mother's earnings and exploited her talents.
Withholding money is one thing, but Brown's family also claims she was drugged and raped on the road in a effort to control her. Brown told her children she was beaten and threatened with worse in the middle of the night as strangers came to her door.
Though Moolah herself denied these serious allegations, WWE wrestler Luna Vachon has also been vocal about the wrestling icon's past. Vachon claims she was sent to take suggestive pictures for an older doctor. Though the pictures weren't nude, it still left a bad feeling in her stomach.
Did you know this controversial back story about Moolah? Does it change your opinion on her wrestling legacy?