She married LaMotta when she was 16 after they met at a community pool. It was his second marriage and Vikki's first. They divorced in 1957, after 11 years of marriage. During that time, Jake's boxing career had started to slow down, and he began taking out his anger on Vikki. He became controlling of her, and Vikki was forced to leave him even though, at the time, they had three small children.
She was portrayed by Actress Cathy Moriarty in the 1980 film Raging Bull. Moriarty was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Vikki. She is also known for her work as a model. She later posed for a nude pictorial in Playboy magazine in November 1981, at age 51. In her later years, she appeared in commercials for Vikki LaMotta Cosmetics, which as of 2016 is still operating. In 1992, she relocated to Florida, living on Hillsboro Beach.
In the 1990s, she wrote an autobiography, but requested it not be released until after her death due to the information revealed in the book. After she died in 2005, Knockout!: The Sexy, Violent, Extraordinary Life of Vikki LaMotta was released.
She died following open-heart surgery in Boca Raton, Florida on January 25, 2005, two days after her 75th birthday.
They had a daughter Christi and two sons – Jake Jr. and Joe – both of whom died in 1998. Jake Jr. died of liver cancer and Joe in an airplane crash. In 1962, she married Tony Foster; they had a son, Harrison, and later divorced.
