People: Terrence Howard divorce settlement overturned by judge
A judge overturned Terrence Howard’s divorce settlement with his second wife Monday, finding the actor was coerced into signing the settlement by her threats to leak private details.
Superior Court Judge Thomas Trent Lewis’ ruling means Howard and his ex-wife, Michelle Ghent, will now have to renegotiate the financial terms of their divorce. The ruling also ends, for now, any claims Ghent has to Howard’s earnings from the hit TV show “Empire.”
Howard contended he signed a 2012 settlement to end his marriage to Ghent out of fear she would leak private details about him, including phone sex recordings with other women and a video of him dancing naked in a bathroom.
The agreement entitled Ghent to a share of Howard’s earnings, which would include a portion of his salary from the hit Fox series “Empire,” which opens its second season in the fall.
Lewis cited the ugly details of the case and said it was clear Howard had mistreated Ghent.
“There’s no question in my mind Terrence Howard is a bully,” Lewis said. But the judge also said: “Just because you’re a bully doesn’t mean you can’t be bullied.”
The actor was nominated for an Academy Award for his starring role in 2005’s “Hustle & Flow.”
Comic Morgan finally ties the knot
Tracy Morgan has married his fiancee of four years.
According to the 46-year-old actor-comedian’s publicist, Lewis Key, Morgan wed Megan Wollover on Sunday.
Their 2-year-old daughter was in attendance. It is Morgan’s second marriage.
The ceremony came 14 months after the June 2014 crash that seriously injured Morgan and killed a fellow comedian when their limousine was struck by a Wal-Mart truck on the New Jersey Turnpike.
One Direction ready to take a break?
A spokesman for One Direction has declined to comment on a report that the chart-topping boy band will take an indefinite break starting in March.
Publicist Simon Jones said he wouldn’t comment on “speculation.”
The Sun newspaper reported Monday that band members would go separate ways for at least a year after finishing a tour this autumn and promoting their fifth album.
One Direction formed in 2010 after five teenagers – Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik – auditioned individually for the British TV talent show “The X Factor.”
One Direction is currently on the North American leg of a tour that is due to end Oct. 31 in Sheffield, England.
The birthday bunch
Game show host Monty Hall is 94. Actor Sean Connery is 85. TV personality Regis Philbin is 84. Rock singer-actor Gene Simmons is 66. Country singer Billy Ray Cyrus is 54. Television chef Rachael Ray is 47. Country singer Jo Dee Messina is 45. Model Claudia Schiffer is 45. Actress Blake Lively is 28.