After announcing that she is cancer-free, Martina Navratilova and her wife, Julia Lemigova, adopted two sons in August 2024.
Hailing from Prague, Czechoslovakia, Martina Navratilova is a former professional tennis player.
Navratilova has 18 major singles wins, 31 major women’s doubles titles, and 10 major mixed doubles titles for a total of 59 major trophies, the highest in the Open Era.
She, alongside her rival, Chris Evert, dominated women’s tennis for the first two-thirds of the 1980s.
Martina Navratilova Has Had A Tumultuous Relationship With Her Former Partners!
Julia Lemigova is the beloved wife of the former professional tennis player Martina Navratilova.
Navratilova came out as bisexual in an interview with Steve Goldstein, a sports writer for the New York Daily News, in 1981, just after she became a citizen of the United States.
Moreover, she revealed having a physical relationship with Rita Mae Brown, an American feminist writer.
While Navratilova requested not to publish the interview until she was ready to come out publicly, the New York Daily News published the article on July 30, 1981.
In 1981, she was roommates with former WNBA player Nancy Lieberman. After revealing her sexuality, her relationship with her roommate became heavily questioned.
Hence, Navratilova had to reiterate about being bisexual, and Nancy identified herself as heterosexual in an interview with Dallas Morning News columnist Skip Bayless.
Since then, Navratilova has reidentified herself as homosexual.
Before meeting her wife, Julia, Martina Navratilova has been in many romantic relationships.
As previously stated, Navratilova’s first romantic partner was American feminist author Rita Mae Brown, whom she dated from the late 1970s until the early 1980s.
Their connection occurred at a period when being publicly homosexual as an athlete was uncommon.
Martina then dated Judy Nelson, an American novelist. The pair were in a long-term relationship from the early 1980s to the 1990s.
Their nearly ten-year relationship was fraught with challenges, culminating in a public palimony lawsuit and a financial dispute.
When Judy Nelson met Navratilova, her two sons from her previous marriage were 9 and 12.
“The celebrity factor didn’t help me but it did for the boys. Martina was a hero to them. She was cool to know, and she loved to play games with them. In many ways, she was their best friend.”
Judy Nelson
Nelson sued Navratilova for breaching their non-marital partnership arrangement. However, Navratilova settled the dispute outside of court by paying Nelson a substantial sum.
“They tell you they love you and, on the other hand, they want to get as much money as possible. My crime here is stupidity, naivete, and not loving Judy anymore. For that I have to pay.”
Martina Navratilova
Furthermore, Nelson’s book, Love Match: Nelson vs. Navratilova, revealed a less favorable facet of their relationship. However, the book is one-sided, so we do not know the complete narrative.
Then, the tennis star started dating Toni Layton, who left her husband, Jeffrey Lambert, for Navratilova.
“We became good friends, writing and telling each other about our lives, our loves, our interests. Our first kiss was outside a 7/11 store. I leaned over to kiss her on the cheek in comfort and it just happened. Everything fell into place for both of us.”
Toni Layton
A month later, they married in an informal ceremony at Mount Washington State Park in New Hampshire.
“We climbed on to some rocks and held each other as we exchanged vows. It was just the two of us and was very romantic. I give you my heart, my love and my devotion. I love you with all my being. I’ve never felt like this with anyone before.“
Toni Layton
However, their love story turned bitter after almost seven years together. After a two-year struggle, the bickering couple has quietly settled out of court.
They battled over money, four residences, many cars, a boat, jewelry, a Florida animal sanctuary, art, dogs, and even firearms.
Toni filed a lawsuit, saying the tennis player unexpectedly abandoned her after eight years and changed the locks of their Florida residence.
“If only I had read Judy’s books, I would have known what Marti was capable of. It was history repeating itself all over again. Everything that happened to me was exactly as Judy described it in her book: no warning, an attempt at a forced settlement shoved in her face.”
Toni Layton
Martina Navratilova settled with her ex-lover, Toni Layton, for an estimated $3 million after a protracted legal fight in which Layton threatened to divulge the tennis legend’s secrets.
Martina Navratilova Tied The Knot With Her Wife, Julia Lemigova, In 2014!
After several turbulent relationships, Martina found refuge and genuine love in her wife, Julia Lemigova.
While the couple met in 2000, they didn’t start dating until 2008. Initially, Julia battled with the thought of coming out to the public and was concerned about disclosing that she was dating Martina.
“You have to come and talk to me. It was a second and I turned away. She received the message. She came to talk to me and introduced herself. But unfortunately, that was the end of our moment. Something could have happened, but it didn’t.”
“Exactly eight years later, on the day … déjà vu! During the French Open, I bump into Martina, and I said, ‘How about a breakfast? We had a breakfast the next day, and then the next day, and then the third day. And then she moved in.”
Julia Lemigova
Moreover, Julia almost walked down the aisle nine times before marrying Navratilova.
Lemigova admitted that she had been engaged several times before eventually marrying the tennis star in 2014.
She told The Daily Mail that their connection began as friends and gradually deepened.
She stated that her children, Victoria and Emma, loved Martina and enjoyed spending time with her.
One of Julia’s daughters eventually inquired about her relationship with Martina when kids at her school began saying stuff.
Who is Martina?’ so we had to sit down and talk about it. I said, ‘Martina is someone I love.’ Her eyes went all wide. I remember saying, ‘I can’t imagine living without her.’ Then we had a conversation about whether they liked Martina being around and I remember my daughter saying, ‘I want her to live with us, too.’ ”
Julia Lemigova
Julia’s children wanted her and Martina to marry once she revealed their relationship. Martina proposed to Julia at the 2014 US Open tennis tournament.
“Originally it wasn’t the idea to do it at the U.S. Open, on the Jumbotron and all that, but then it was, ‘Why not? I’ve seen it in movies!’ And it all came off, everything worked out perfectly!”
Martina Navratilova
Julia uploaded photos from her wedding on Instagram on Valentine’s Day 2022.
“I’m 58 years old, I got married for the first time – it’s about time, right?Growing up as a gay woman you just don’t ever think about that, and then I thought, about 10 years ago, ‘You know, I think within 10 years gay marriage will be legal.’ And here we are, 10 years later, making it legal.”
Martina Navratilova
Moreover, Julia is the first housewife to be in an openly lesbian relationship in the history of Real Housewives.
During Season 5 of RHOM, Julia expressed her desire to adopt a child with Martina. Unfortunately, their preparations for adoption were put on hold when Martina was diagnosed with cancer.
However, Martina announced that she was cancer-free in June 2023. Following this good news, the couple adopted two sons in August 2024.
“When you’re adopting a child, it has to be about the child. And, right now, it’s everything about Martina, and for her getting healthy. So, we’re putting it on hold.”
Julia Lemigova
Julia Lemigova is a Russian former model and beauty pageant titleholder. She received the title Miss USSR in 1990 after the original winner, Maria Kezha, failed to qualify for being underage.
Then, Lemigova represented the Soviet Union at the Miss Universe 1991 pageant, where she became 2nd runner-up.
Before marrying the tennis legend, she was in a relationship with Édouard Stern, a French banker.
They welcomed a son, Maximilian, together. However, Maximilian sadly passed away of shaken baby syndrome while in the care of a new nanny.
Julia also has two daughters from a previous relationship, Victoria and Emma.
While Martina Navratilova Advocated For Women’s And Gay Rights, She Is Opposed To The Inclusion Of Transgender Women In Female Sports!
Moreover, Martina has also advocated for Gay rights. Navratilova took part in a case against Amendment 2, a ballot initiative that was successful in 1992 in Colorado and established the prohibition of sexual orientation as a protected class.
In 1993, Navratilova attended the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Equal Rights and Liberation. In 2000, she received the Human Rights Campaign’s National Equality Award.
Navratilova is a patron of the Lesbian Project, an organization dedicated to representing the rights and interests of lesbians in the UK.
“At a time when lesbian rights in many countries are being eroded I am proud to be a patron of The Lesbian Project, an organisation dedicated to the well-being of UK based lesbians – a force for good.”
Martina Navratilova
However, Martina Navratilova is an ardent critic of permitting transgender women to compete in female sports. She often refers to them as failed male athletes.
She denies allegations of transphobia and condemns the growing propensity among transgender activists to criticize anyone who disagrees with them and label them all as transphobes.
Tennis Star Martina Navratilova Slams Trans Swimmer Lia Thomas, ‘There Should Be An Asterisk Next To Her Name’
byu/PrincessBananas85 intennis
Following Navratilova’s essay on the issue for The Times in February 2019, Athlete Ally, an LGBTQ athlete advocacy group, dismissed her from their advisory board, arguing that her views are transphobic and based on a flawed knowledge of science and facts.
Likewise, the BBC aired The Trans Women Athlete Dispute with Martina Navratilova in June 2019, in which she interviewed trans women athletes and sports scholars, offering data on both sides of the debate over whether trans women have a leg up in competitive sports. Her final words were:
“The way I started this journey, I just wanted to see if there are any big surprises, any misconceptions that I had.“
“And what I think I have come to realise, the biggest thing for me, is just that the level of difficulty that trans people go through cannot be underestimated. The fight for equality and recognition is just huge. That being said, still, for me, the most important thing in sports…and you have to remember, trans rights and elite sports are two different things, although of course they are connected. What’s the right way to set rules so that everybody feels like they have a fighting chance? It feels to me that it is impossible to come to any real conclusions or write any meaningful rules until more research is done.“
Then, in August 2020, Navratilova and around 300 other women signed an open letter to the National Collegiate Athletic Association supporting Idaho legislation prohibiting transgender student-athletes from participating in female sports.
In 2021, Navratilova became the leader of the Women’s Sports Policy Working Group.
The group emerged in response to US President Joe Biden‘s Executive Order 13988, which mandated universal inclusion for all transgender women athletes.
Furthermore, in April 2023, Navratilova backed a boycott of Nike after the company partnered with transgender woman Dylan Mulvaney to promote a sports bra.
In October 2023, Navratilova slammed US Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland‘s interview with environmentalist drag queen Pattie Gonia outside New York’s Stonewall National Monument, labeling the performance a pitiful caricature of women.
Moreover, Navratilova has criticized the IOC for permitting female boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting, whom she considers biological males, to compete in the 2024 Summer Olympics.
In Case You Didn’t Know
- Martina Navratilova’s mother, Jana, is an accomplished gymnast, tennis player, and ski instructor.
- In 1972, she won the Czechoslovakia national tennis championship at 15.
- Navratilova’s grandmother, Agnes Semanska, played tennis for the Czechoslovak Federation before the Second World War.
