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.