Lionel Richie has opened up on a difficult time with his ex-wives, calling it ‘disastrous’.
The romantic crooner has been no stranger to love and loss, and in his new memoir, Truly, he bares it all.
The 76-year-old has revealed a period in his life which holds a lot of pain, as it includes information about a private moment that was painful for his first and second wife.
The singer, who recorded and released five number-one hits, according to Billboard, which sang of his heartbreak, woes and highs in relationships, met Brenda Harvey early in his career.
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In fact, according to MSN, the two were college sweethearts before getting married in 1975.
The couple went on to adopt Nicole Richie when she was nine years old, but she had been living with the pair since three years of age.
However, the pair divorced five years later after years of estrangement.
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In 1986, Richie began dating Diane Alexander, who he went on to father Sofia Richie and Miles Richie with.
He had met her two years before, and began an affair for two years until Harvey found out in '88.
Recalling that time in his book, the singer said that when he was at Alexander’s apartment, Harvey showed up...and things got ugly.
Calling it ‘the scandal of my century’, Richie shared that there was something the public didn’t know that that time.
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“What very few people knew was that Brenda and I were separated,” Richie wrote in his book, according to People. “I got a place at the beach, and I was hiding out there, trying to be alone, trying to decompress somehow, because it was killing everyone.”
He explained that when he was at the Beverly Hills home, things got heated.
He said: “When the door opens, Brenda is standing there. There is a massive confrontation. Diane is in total shock and I’m trying to leave, to draw Brenda away. It’s the most awful screaming match of life, and it’s all in this small entryway.”
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He then wrote that Rickie left, and tried to take Harvey with him, but she went back to fight with Alexander.
This led to the neighbours calling the police, which brought charges against her that were then eventually, allegedly dropped.
She was ultimately arrested for vandalism and trespassing, battery, suspicion of corporal injury to a spouse, and resisting arrest, but was released on a $5,000 bail, as per the Los Angeles Times.
In his book, he remembered the moment as ‘just raw and ugly and disastrous’, and that ‘the most painful part, the tragedy of our lives’ was that ‘Brenda was heartbroken’.
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He went on to write: “That’s the saddest day in the life of a marriage. When you know you may love each other, still, and you have a history that you will always have, but it’s over. And you know it.”
While the pair didn’t officially divorce until five years after the fight, Richie did go on to marry Alexander two years later, before divorcing in 2004.
“I will forever give it up to both of my exes for being strong, loving, and devoted moms,” Richie wrote. “Nicole and Brenda were two peas in a pod from the start. Miles and Sofia adore Diane, as she adores them both.”
Topics: Celebrity, Wedding, Sex and Relationships, Parenting, Music
Britt Jones