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The lingerie was no lie, and his fishnets weren’t fake!
Boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya admitted to dressing in drag and considering suicide while his life was going down for the count because of self-inflicted, one-two punches of booze and cocaine addiction.
In a remarkable Spanish-language interview with Univision, the “Golden Boy” said he’s been clean for more than three months after hitting rock bottom in May and checking into rehab.
De La Hoya, 38, confirmed that scandalous pictures — of him in high heels, fishnet stockings and frilly lingerie — are real.
“Let me to tell you, yes, yes, it was me [in those pictures],” he told the news show “Aqui y Ahora,” or “Here and Now.”
The pictures also showed the bizarrely dressed boxer frolicking with Siberian knockout Milana Dravnel.
The Post published the photos on Nov. 15, 2007, following which De La Hoya insisted the pictures were frauds.
Now the ex-fighter has come clean: “I am tired now of lying, of lying to the public and of lying to myself.”
He said he was high on booze and cocaine when the racy photos were snapped.
After De La Hoya launched a campaign to discredit the wild images, Dravnel filed a federal lawsuit against him, claiming his handlers duped her into agreeing that the photos were manipulated.
They settled the lawsuit out of court and both sides clammed up, citing a confidentiality agreement.
But courthouse sources told The Post yesterday that De La Hoya shelled out a whopping $20 million to Dravnel to go away. The deal also called for her to give back the heels, lingerie and fishnets that she kept after their kinky photo session.
The cross-dressing photos sent De La Hoya into a tailspin, and he thought about throwing in the towel — permanently.
“One of these nights when I was drunk and alone again, I asked myself, ‘Is it worth it to be alive?’ I was already feeling like I had nothing,” he said. “And what is going through your mind are your children, your wife, the people who love you.”
The ex-boxer got an early start hitting the bottle, taking swigs at age 9.
His childhood boozing usually took place at family get-togethers, in back yards across his native East Los Angeles.
De La Hoya said uncles would send him to grab beer from the kitchen.
“I’d open the beer, and I’d drink some,” he added.