The now-ex wives of Lionel Richie had a 1988 showdown that the R&B singer-songwriter will never forget.
In an excerpt of his new memoir Truly, which was shared with People, Richie, 76, recounted the “screaming match” between his first wife Brenda Harvey, 73, and then-girlfriend Diane Alexander, 58.
Richie and Harvey are the adoptive parents of Nicole Richie, 44, while the vocalist shares a son, 31-year-old Miles, and daughter, 27-year-old Sofia, with Alexander.
Richie divorced Harvey in 1993 after 18 years of marriage, and he married Alexander in 1995, divorcing her nine years later.
In the book, Richie called the June 1988 incident “the point of no return” and “the scandal of the century.” The fight would eventually be parodied in the second season of adult cartoon The Boondocks.
“What very few people knew was that Brenda and I were separated. 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,” Richie wrote.
The singer would depart for Los Angeles to visit Alexander that morning, but Harvey stopped by to confront both.
“When the door opens, Brenda is standing there,” he recalled. “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.”
Richie left the scene in hopes that Harvey would follow him, but his then-wife returned to Alexander’s residence to continue the argument.
“The neighbors called the police. Charges were brought and then dropped,” Richie wrote.
The incident made headlines, but for Richie, it was a personal “tragedy” for himself and Alexander, who was “heartbroken.”
After the “raw and ugly and disastrous” run-in, Richie realized that he needed to end his marriage with Harvey.
“That’s the saddest day in the life of a marriage,” he said. “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.”
Over 20 years after his divorce from Alexander, Richie is now dating Lisa Parigi, who’s 40 years his junior.
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