Former NBA player and television analyst Jayson Williams‘ wife, Tanya Young Williams, filed for divorce today in New York. In the divorce petition, Tanya (a former attorney) accuses Jayson of abuse, abandonment, adultery and drug use.
Tanya’s divorce filing goes on to allege that Jayson threatened to kill her, faked a suicide attempt, lied that he had stomach cancer and urinated in the kitchen sink. Apparently, the court papers also include an allegation that Jayson bragged to Tanya that he performed oral sex “on white girls.”
“Here is a guy who has spent wildly and dissipated marital assets and has, of course, acted reckless and been just absent, violent and not a father, not a husband,” said Tanya’s divorce lawyer, Malcolm Taub.
Not surprisingly, Jayson’s lawyer denies the allegations in the divorce filing. “Jayson is saddened that Mrs. Williams would make such false claims in an attempt to revive her failed media career,” said his criminal defense attorney Christopher Adams.
The couple, married in 2000, has two daughters, Tryumph, 6, and Whizdom, 4. (Seriously, I can’t make up names that good…)
The divorce filing is just one more legal action on the former basketball player’s plate. Seven years ago, Jayson fatally shot his limo driver in his New Jersey home after a drunken night of partying with friends. He was convicted in 2004 of covering up his role in the driver’s death. The shooting happened when Jayson, trying to scare the driver for grins, snapped a shotgun shut that then went off. Last week the New Jersey state Supreme Court heard the final remaining legal issue before Jayson is retried on a manslaughter charge.