Christy Martin ’s life story feels made for the movies. From humble beginnings, she became one of the most successful female boxers of the 1990s. She’s also a survivor, overcoming adversity and violence to become the person she was always meant to be.

In the film Christy, which opened in theaters on November 7, Sydney Sweeney plays Martin, a West Virginia native who earned the nickname “the Coal Miner’s Daughter” when she became a professional boxer at 21. During her meteoric rise in the sport, she was also covering up her true identity as a queer woman, marrying her manager, Jim Martin, who emotionally and physically abused her while siphoning off her prize money. This abuse turned life-threatening in 2010 when he stabbed and shot her, leaving her for dead. She survived the atta

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