Milana Dravnel appears in the boxer's new documentary, claiming she would "shop specifically for him" as they both open up about the lingerie photo scandal.
Oscar De La Hoya's world blew up big-time in 2007, when photos of him wearing lingerie during a wild night with strippers were released in the press. At the time, both he and one of the women in the pictures denied the images were real -- before, years later, he came clean and said they were, in fact, of him.
Reflecting on the images in question in his new documentary The Golden Boy, De La Hoya and the other woman, former dancer Milana Dravnel (pictured), reflect back on that time in their lives and the efforts they both went through to cover up the truth when the photos were first released.
According to De La Hoya, he "wasn't happy being at home" and spent a lot of time in New York "f---ing around, partying, living the f---ing celebrity life." On one night out, he went to a strip club and had an "all nighter" fueled by cocaine -- and that's where he met Dravnel.
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View Story"I was dancing in one of the nightclubs in New York and that's where I first met Oscar," she recalled in an interview from Guatemala. "I flew into different places and brought my friends and we had a fun slumber party situation. Had music on, did some substances that enhanced the experiences. There was no attachments, no strings ... sometimes it would be like for 10 days at a time, so I would really get to know him ... he was able to shut the door and be himself."
So much so, that he apparently felt comfortable trying on women's clothing -- something he was shocked to discover there was photos of when he woke up to calls from his handlers one morning.
"What the f---. My lawyer just said, 'These people want a million dollars to make these pictures go away,'" he recalled. "So I said we gotta make this f---ing disappear. I was in my hotel room sweating bullets thinking about my wife, my kids, finally they called and said they made the million dollar payment."
But the next morning, the photos still appeared in the New York Post.
"This is f---ing bad, this is bad. My heart f---ing dropped," De La Hoya remembered. "The first thing I thought about was my kids."
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View StoryAppearing in the doc, the boxer's father recalled the embarrassment of the moment and said "that's not something you want to see." Dravnel, meanwhile, was adamant the photos weren't leaked by her.
"I was in shock to find out the photos even existed and then the next day they were all over the news. Every single front page newspaper," she shared. "Obviously, I had no more contact with Oscar, now I'm only dealing with his PR people and lawyer. It was not me selling the photos, of course they didn't believe me."
She said his team then "called every single newspaper that they knew" and put her on the phone with them. Speaking with reporters, she said, she told them that the images were fake and Photoshopped.
De La Hoya said his team also hired a forensic expert who also believed the photos were altered, a claim which slowed down the tabloid attention for a while. But after he went to rehab in 2011, Oscar claimed that his wife at the time, Millie Corretjer, urged him to come clean about everything. In 2011, he confirmed the photos were real during an interview with Univision.
"It was more than once, but taking pictures, I don't remember," De La Hoya said in The Golden Boy. "I do remember there were two girls and then all of a sudden it's like, boom, blacked out."
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View Story"Of course I lied, but I lied to cover him up because I never meant for the pictures to come out," added Dravnel.
"I understood exactly what he needed, the feminine expression, being able to be joyful and playful and childlike, all those qualities are suppressed and he was really connected to the feminine, especially with me," she added of their time together. "Some people get drunk and just want to roll on the floor, but he wanted to sing, put on clothes and pretend play, sometimes he would cry, he would break down crying, which most men can't do."
She went on to claim he told her his mother "always wanted a little girl" and would "dress him up in little girls clothes and they would play" when he was a child. She also said they would "shop specifically for him, thinking this tutu would look good on him, this fishnet."
For his part, De La Hoya said the photos were "playful," adding, "I didn't feel judged .. I'm a manly guy, it's funny, it's like no big deal."
Oscar's mother Cecilia Gonzales De La Hoya died of breast cancer in 1990, he promised his mother before her death that he'd win a gold medal. At the 1992 Olympics Oscar did just that winning the lightweight division.
Both parts of The Golden Boy are streaming now on Max.