A day after NBA star Jason Kidd claimed in divorce papers to be a victim of spousal abuse, his wife's attorney said Kidd had no reason to fear the diminutive woman.
"He says he's threatened by her? He's a star athlete. She's 5-foot-2 [1.57m], I think, and 105 pounds[48kg]," said celebrity New York divorce lawyer Raoul Felder, one of the attorneys representing Joumana Kidd.
"It's shameful what he did here. The truth will come out," said Felder on Wednesday, adding his client planned to file a counter complaint within a week.
The 33-year-old Kidd filed for divorce from his wife of 10 years on Tuesday, a day after a court issued the New Jersey Nets point guard a temporary restraining order against her.
In court papers, Kidd said his wife physically and mentally abused him, threatened to make false domestic violence complaints against him to police and interfered with his relationship with his children.
The papers accuse Joumana Kidd of kicking, hitting, punching and throwing household objects at her 6-foot-4, 210-pound (1.93m, 95kg) husband as she became "increasingly controlling and manipulative" in the last few years of their marriage.
On Monday, Felder said police showed up at the couple's Saddle River estate and, instead of serving Joumana Kidd with the restraining order, forced her to leave.
"The police put her out of her own home, originally giving her 30 minutes to get out with the three children," Felder said. "It turns out the police misinterpreted the court's order."
Attorneys for Kidd said he never intended for his wife to be kicked out of their home when he applied for the order of protection. On Tuesday, they went to court to get the order clarified so Joumana Kidd legally could remain in the house.
Under the order, Jason Kidd will have to pick up his children curbside for visits so that Joumana does not violate the order, attorneys said.
Calling her "a battered and harassed wife in every sense of the word," Felder said it was "absurd" to think that she was the abuser in the relationship.
"He's going to have to deal with the real court and not the basketball court," Felder said.
Jason Kidd's attorney, Madeline Marzano-Lesnevich, objected to the suggestion that size was a factor in the abuse.
"The complaint speaks for itself, but if the suggestion is that you need to be smaller than someone to be abused by them, the police logs are filled with examples to the contrary," she said.
The Kidds, married in 1997, were involved in a domestic violence matter six years ago.
In that incident, Jason Kidd was arrested. Joumana told police he slapped her in the face during an argument about feeding their son, who is now eight. The couple also have four-year-old twin daughters.
Kidd pleaded guilty to spousal abuse, was fined US$200 and ordered to take anger-management training.
Kidd's complaint filed on Tuesday, however, painted a detailed portrait of Joumana Kidd as a vitriolic, jealous and paranoid wife who suspected her husband was cheating and who was prone to public outbursts and threats.
"The defendant's extreme and unwarranted jealousy and rage has left the plaintiff concerned about her emotional stability," the papers say
The papers accuse her of installing tracking devices on his cars and computers, of violent rages in public and in front of their children, and of harassing his trainer, friends and family.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB