NEW YORK -- Donald Trump has cut off alimony payments to his ex- wife, Ivana, and will sue her for money damages for an ABC television interview with Barbara Walters that allegedly abrogated terms of their divorce agreement, it was announced Tuesday.
Jay Goldberg, an attorney for the real estate tycoon, said Trump would seek 'appropriate relief' in court in the near future.
'He views his payment obligations to her as terminated,' Goldberg said. 'That applies to the $350,000-a-year alimony he is paying her in quarterly installments and a $50,000 annual housing allowance. He will not pay it.'
Goldberg said his client would continue to pay child support for his two sons and daughter.
'This is not going to affect his childrn in any way,' he said.
Goldberg cited paragraph 9 in a post-marital agreement signed by the Trumps in 1987 and ratified last March 22 at the time of their divorce agreement as the basis for Trump's action. It read, in part:
'Without obtaining Donald's written consent in advance, Ivana shall not directly or indirectly publish, or cause to be published, any diary, memoir, letter, story, photograph, interview, article, essay, account or description or depiction of any kind whatsoever...concerning her marriage to Donald or any other aspect of Donald's personal business or financial affairs...As used in the preceding sentence, the term 'publish' and 'publication' shall be deemed to include...television.'
Goldberg disclosed that Trump had sent a copy of paragraph 9 to Barbara Walters prior to her interview with Ivana on the '20/20' show last Friday, calling on her to cancel the telecasting of a program which 'so offends Mr. Trump's rights, lest you risk exposure to substantial money damages as a participant in Ms. Trump's wrongful conduct.'
The attorney said Walters did not respond.
Goldberg also alerted Ivana's attorney, Michael Kennedy, by letter on the day of the telecast that her 'conduct and statements over the past several days, including the interview she has already given to Barbara Walters, constitute deliberate and material breaches' of the couple's agreement.
The letter to Kennedy asked him to warn his client that unless she took immediate steps to see that the ABC-TV program was canceled, she and the network would be held accountable for 'substantial additional money damages.'
Goldberg said Trump's suit against Ivana for damages would be filed in State Supreme Court.
Trump paid his wife $10 million outright at the time of their divorce, which coincided with his financial decline and loss of control over his Taj Mahal Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, N.Y. Ivana has since said she probably got 'the last of his liquid assets.'
Ivana also received use of a triplex apartment in Trump Tower in Manhattan, which Trump can reclaim on payment of $4 million, and a palatial home in Connecticut.
