Marvin Gaye III files for divorce from his wife more than two months after his domestic violence arrest
Marvin Gaye III filed for divorce from his wife Wendy Gaye just over two months after he was arrested in connection with domestic violence.
In the Jan. 12 incident at the former couple’s Calabasas home, after she claimed he pulled a gun on her and physically assaulted her and her cousin.
The 57-year-old son of the late legendary singer Marvin Gaye mentioned January 12, the day he was arrested, as the day they separated. TMZ reported, citing court documents.
Wendy later obtained a restraining order in connection with the incident, in which she said Gaye picked her up off the ground by her neck and then attacked her cousin when she tried to separate them, according to the outlet.
In the aftermath of the incident, Gaye turned himself in to authorities and was charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon and misdemeanor domestic violence.
The latest: Marvin Gaye III filed for divorce from his wife Wendy Gaye just over two months after he was arrested in connection with domestic violence. The former couple was photographed in New York in 2013.
Gaye was released after posting $50,000 bail, the outlet reported.
In legal documents, Gaye claimed “irreconcilable differences” were the cause of the breakup and asked the court to bar his estranged wife from receiving spousal support.
TMZ previously reported that the violence against the two women stemmed from a discussion about a previous assault.
A source also told the publication that the marriage between Marvin and Wendy has been rocky and that the two “have had ongoing issues for a while now.”
An emergency protective order was issued to keep Gaye away from the home and family, and law enforcement officers returned to the residence and recovered two firearms.
The family’s attorney, Gil Arbel, said his clients are “distraught” and “intend to fully cooperate with law enforcement in pressing charges.”
When officers arrived at the time they were initially called, they believed Gaye was still inside the home and asked him to come out, before being informed by neighbors that Gaye was gone.
The officers then reportedly met with Gaye’s relatives and took an “assault report” that identified Gaye as a suspect. It is not known if anyone was injured.
Incident: Gaye, 57, allegedly argued with his wife and cousin, which may have been about an earlier assault, and Gaye then pointed the gun at his cousin; seen in 2019
Happy Times: Gaye III is the adopted son of legendary singer Marvin Gaye and his wife Anna Gordy Gaye; the couple were married between 1963 and 1977 (pictured, Anna, center, and Gaye, second from right, are shown here around 1970)
Tragic loss: Singer Marvin was shot and killed by his own father in 1984 when he was 44 (pictured in 1981)
Gaye’s wife, Wendy, was seen being assisted by paramedics and police outside the home after the incident.
Gaye III is the adopted son of legendary singer Marvin Gaye and his wife Anna Gordy Gaye; the couple were married from 1963 to 1977.
The singer was shot dead by his own father in 1984 when he was 44, while Anna, who was 17 years his senior, died in 2014 aged 92.
Gaye III’s biological mother is Denise Gordy, Anna’s niece. Denise gave birth to Gaye III when she was just 16 years old. Denise previously said that she agreed to give birth to the child because her aunt was unable to conceive.
Gaye married his second wife, Janice, in 1977 and they had two children, daughter Nona and son Frankie.
Gaye III has largely been kept out of the public eye, but in 2013 he revealed that he suffered from kidney failure and was seeking a donated organ for transplant.
He revealed that he had been on dialysis for kidney failure for three years and was having trouble finding a suitable kidney for transplant. She shared her condition publicly to help draw attention to the challenges Black and Hispanic people face when seeking healthy organ donors.
In 2015, the family of Marvin Gaye won a lawsuit against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams for infringing the copyright to their song Blurred Lines. Williams and Thicke were ordered to pay $7.4 million in a groundbreaking copyright case in which a judge ruled their composition infringed Gaye’s copyright for the song Got to Give it Up.