Boxing legend, formerly known as Frank Maloney, is to undergo gender reassignment surgery after revealing that she is now living as a woman called Kellie.

The 61 year-old former boxing promoter, who became famous for guiding Lennox Lewis to the heavyweight championship, has revealed that she has been living as a woman for the past two years, and has already received hormone replacement therapy. She says that she intends to undergo gender reassignment surgery in the near future.

“I was born in the wrong body and I have always known I was a woman. Living with the burden any longer would have killed me,” she told The Sunday Mirror.

“What was wrong at birth is now being medically corrected. I have a female brain. I knew I was different from the minute I could compare myself to other children. I wasn’t in the right body. I was jealous of girls.”

She added, “I never felt comfortable doing boys’ things, playing boys’ games. But I buried myself in them to make sure I wasn’t seen as different.”

Maloney also revealed that her struggle with her gender identity led to the breakdown of her marriage, which left her in a deep depression and resulted in a suicide attempt.

“It got to a point where I just couldn’t cope any longer. I couldn’t go on and I had to end it,” she said. “I had always believed that suicide was the coward’s way out but my life was being torn apart.”

Despite the time it took to come to terms with her gender identity, she is now happier than ever, saying “I can’t keep living in the shadows, that is why I am doing what I am today.”

Maloney rose to prominence in the early 1990s after leading Lennox Lewis to a the top. During his 30 year career, he has also managed Irish born champion Darren Sutherland.

Read the full interview with Kellie Maloney on TheMirror.co.uk