Some time ago there was a TV show called “The Beverly Hillbillies”. One actor who played Jethro was Max Baer, Jr.

Baer said “it got so bad that if someone asked if my father was the former heavyweight champion I punched them before they punched me”.

Muhammad Ali, Jr. said he saw little of his father the former heavyweight champion. He was born in 1972 in Philadelphia at 70th and Overbrook. When I visited Ali’s house in Cherry Hill, NJ, it was 1973. I didn’t see any children at the time. I saw Ali and his wife, Belinda. He said he rarely saw his father and his mother was trying to be an actress. She had worked in a Muslim bakery when Ali met her. Ali was 30 and Belinda 17 when they married.

Ali, Jr. said “kids wanted to start fights with me on the playground when they found out who my father was.” He even thought of changing his name to Malik Islam. He said “my father made millions and I was living on food stamps.” He was mostly raised by his grandmother.

Ali, Jr. said “my father slipped out of my life the moment he married Lonnie (fourth wife)”. He grew up with three sisters – Maryum and twins Jamillah and Rasheda.

Ali, Jr. said when he was young he was given money but hidden away. He had no way of learning how to take care of himself and it haunted him in his adult life.

Baer, Jr. has a net worth of $50 million and is 80 years-old. He couldn’t get a major acting part for everyone imagined him as “Jethro!” But he got into the film business as a screen writer, producer and director and bought up as much of the “Beverly Hills” films he could. His movie “Macon County Line” made him some $35 million. He also produced “Ode to Billy Jo!”