Orianne Cevey secretly married another man and occupied Phil Collins' home by force, claim the musician's lawyers.
People can change drastically, and we may not even be aware of it. Some people might reveal their real face only when they are backed into a corner. Even between partners, it's hard to sometimes fully know the truth about who we are married to until things get ugly. Nobody likes to show their dark side, and some people are really good at hiding that part of themselves until it's too late.
Musician Phil Collins, 69, the father of actress Lily Collins, and his troubles with his ex-wife Orianne Cevey, 46, seem to be neverending. The former couple met in 1994 when she was only 21 and working as his translator during his tour of Switzerland. They got married in 1999 and welcomed two sons during the course of their relationship, but their marriage didn't last and they ended up getting divorced in 2008. He reportedly paid her almost $50 million as the divorce settlement.
However, the couple reconciled after she separated from her second husband, investment banker Charles Mejjati. But, the couple broke up again in the summer of 2020, and she took over his $40 million Miami home, according to Vanity Fair. She reportedly also secretly married a 31-year-old businessman Thomas Bates in August 2020 after telling the musician she was going to Las Vegas on a business trip, as per TMZ.
In October 2020, the famous drummer and singer-songwriter told Cevey to vacate his Florida home and gave her a deadline, which she refused to meet. Vanity Fair quoted court documents, in which Collins claimed that she and her new husband "changed the alarm codes, blocked the surveillance cameras, barred entry by vendors and the real estate agent, and are threatening, implicitly and explicitly, to prolong their unlawful occupation of the property through force."
She also bought a home in Las Vegas worth $1.7 million, which is why he asked her to leave on his lawyers' guidance. He is now suing her for "an armed occupation and takeover" with "her new husband."
Cevey has allegedly hired "three or four heavily armed individuals" to guard the home. In the meantime, she "filed a counterclaim seeking approximately $20 million" from him. Her lawyer argued that she has an ownership stake in the home, even though it was registered under a company owned by Collins.
During the hearing, which was taking place on Zoom, they discussed removing Collins’s valuables from the Florida home which he claims are at "substantial risk." The items include jewelry, memorabilia, unpublished music, and a collection of items from the Battle of the Alamo worth $15 million. Both parties have agreed to remove his items to be kept in storage until their case is decided.
The judge in their case told the musician to live in one of his other properties but his attorney Jeff Fisher responded saying that Cevey also has another home. "Let her go to Las Vegas," he said. The attorney's firm had made the discovery that the 46-year-old married another man and bought a home in December 2019, before breaking up with Collins for the second time in July 2020.
Cevey had changed multiple lawyers during the course of their lawsuit, allegedly to prolong the hearing. Fisher said, "The issue really is, do they get to, through gamesmanship, deprive somebody of their home? While she has another home?"
Meanwhile, Collins has been supporting his sons, Nicholas and Mathew, through a fully-funded, irrevocable trust, as per TMZ. He doesn't plan on giving in to Cevey's demands as he believes that she squandered her initial settlement money through bad investments.
In December 2020, a judge ordered the 46-year-old to stop spreading "scandalous" comments about the singer's hygiene and sexual performance. "What Mrs. Bates' complaint contains is a whole bunch of impertinent, scandalous, immaterial, irrelevant and, frankly, purposely damaging information that is alleged, defamatory information, about Phil Collins," Collins' lawyer Brendon Carrington told the court, as per Daily Mail. "It has nothing to do with her claim."
The attorney added that the litigation was making it hard for the musician to sell the property. The judge sided with Collins and told his ex-wife's lawyer to amend the claim and ensure it didn't contain anything the court deemed inappropriate. "The court grants the motion to strike immaterial, impertinent, and scandalous allegations," the judge said.
References:
https://www.tmz.com/2020/10/10/phil-collins-ex-wife-home-eviction-alleged-secret-wedding/
