Shanna Moakler's Ex, Oscar De La Hoya, Talks Giving Up Raising His Daughter

Shanna Moakler's ex-husband Oscar De La Hoya, has opened up about another man raising his daughter.

Even though it seems like a lifetime ago, Oscar and the former beauty queen had coupled up in 1997 before announcing their engagement a year later. Barely seven months later, the former lovebirds welcomed their daughter, Atiana De La Hoya, in March 1999.

Their love eventually waned, and they had a dramatic split after the former professional boxer took another woman as his date to an awards ceremony while still being committed to Moakler.

Following their breakup, Moakler got involved with and married rocker Travis Barker, who had no problem raising Atiana. Years later, Oscar has disclosed why he allowed the Blink-182 drummer to take his place as Atiana's dad.

Despite having a successful career in combat sports, Oscar has led a relatively quiet life away from the limelight. However, he took a break from being low-key to honor an invitation to Allison Kugel's "Allison Interviews" podcast on Thursday, July 20. 

During their chat, the 50-year-old divulged the reason for letting his ex-fiancée and her former husband raise his now 24-year-old baby girl. He expressed:

"I basically ran away. I was scared. I was fearful. I did try to be a father full-time for a few years, and it was beautiful."

The boxing promoter reiterated that although it was "amazing to raise a little girl," it got to a point where he began questioning his worthiness. In his words:

"You try to convince yourself that you are not worthy of this; that love is not possible in your life, because of what I lived through, not receiving that love when I was a kid. My father never told me, 'I love you.'"

Oscar then shared that his mother never expressed affection for him, adding, "She never really hugged me. When I would cry, she would start hitting me. That is how bad it was."

Later in the chat, the father-of-six admitted he "was always there, but not there," which made his relationship with Atiana different from the usual. The Golden Boy of boxing concluded:

"You have to check in and you worry. Even though I was apart, I felt like I was always close, but I didn't feel like I was worthy enough to do the job."

As for his split with the mother of his first child, Nicki Swift reported that Moakler had addressed her emotions seeing her then-man with another woman. As she conveyed in 2001:

I'm sitting in bed, watching the Latin Grammy awards, feeling hurt that he went without me. Then, I see him there with another woman. I was devastated. I had no idea there were any real problems in the relationship until that point."

In retaliation, the former Miss U.S.A hit him with a $62.5 million palimony lawsuit one month after the retired boxer sued her for allegedly locking him out of his multi-million dollar home to throw a party she tagged "Shanna's Freedom Party."

Moakler's affection for her kids has always been public, with her occasionally posting updates effusing over them. She did so again last month, uploading an image emphasizing the beautiful genes her late mother passed to Atiana. 

The Blast noted that the Los Angeles-born beauty stunned in a mini skirt and black blazer without anything underneath. She complemented the daring look with red braids and a face beat with plum-colored lips. Taking to the caption, her mom penned: 

"My beautiful daughter @atianadelahoya she resembles my mom so much to me. Such a good soul you are. Love you. ❤️👸🏻⚓️." 

Atiana promptly acknowledged the sweet message, writing in the comment section, "Love you 🥰♥️." The budding model was also praised by fans, with one describing her as "absolutely gorgeous" and "stunning."

A second netizen commented, "She is gorgeous; all your kids are beautiful," a third agreed with Moakler's caption, typing, "She looks like your mom; she is a natural beauty 😍 RIP 🙏🏻 ." "She is a beautiful, elegant, and classy young lady!!" a fourth added, as a fifth reiterated, "She looks so much like your Portuguese mama!"