Content area
Full Text
Heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, socked with a divorce actionlast week by his wife, actress Robin Givens, came out counterpunchingyesterday. Charging extreme cruelty, Tyson filed for divorce and annulment of their eight-month marriage, saying in court papers Givens "tricked" him into marriage with a false claim of pregnancy. Tyson, who has never been beaten in the ring and has knocked out 29 of his 33 opponents, characterized himself in court papers as "the hapless victim of intentional fraud."
In the 10-page document, filed in New Jersey State Superior Court, Tyson said he "found himself constantly manipulated by her and her family to the point of personal distraction regarding his own welfare and career."
Tyson also charged that Givens intentionally inflicted emotional distress through "a campaign . . . to publicly humiliate" him and "strip him of his manhood and his dignity and to destroy his credibility as a public figure."
In a taped television interview broadcast Sept. 30, Givens called Tyson "a manic-depressive," characterized life with him as "pure hell," and said she lived in fear of her husband, while a placid Tyson sat alongside. Two days later, Tyson went on a rampage in the couple's $4.5-million Bernardsville, N.J., estate, allegedly throwing objects around the house.
A psychiatrist hired by Tyson's...