Giuliani agrees late settlement to avoid tawdry public divorce
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Your support makes all the difference.The former mayor of New York Rudolph Giuliani and his estranged wife reached a divorce settlement yesterday to end their two decades of marriage and spare the couple from an ugly court showdown.
Lawyers for the former couple told a New York court they had worked all night to reach an agreement before yesterday's scheduled start of divorce hearings. Judith Gische, a Manhattan Supreme Court judge, granted them a two-hour postponement, after which the lawyers said the settlement – in which Donna Hanover is expected to receive £4.4m – was being signed.
The judge said: "Come in with your clients, show me that it's signed, and we'll say our goodbyes." It was, in effect, the end of what was probably New York's most tawdry failed marriage saga of recent years.
The settlement between Mr Giuliani and Ms Hanover means the pair have avoided what was certain to have been an unseemly public conclusion to their separation. Both had been expected to appear as witnesses while allegations of cruelty and adultery were hurled around the court.
The marriage between Mr Giuliani – a figure whose popularity and standing was transformed by his actions in the aftermath of the attacks of 11 September – and Ms Hanover began to fall apart during his first term as mayor.
In October 2000, Mr Giuliani, 57, filed for divorce, accusing Ms Hanover of "cruel and unusual punishment". She made her own filing last month, citing the former mayor's "open and notorious adultery" as the reason for their break-up – a reference to Mr Giuliani's very public relationship with his current girlfriend, Judith Nathan.
During the last months of Mr Giuliani's tenure, Ms Nathan became the city's de facto first lady and appeared with him at official functions. News of their affair dominated city tabloid headlines for months and, at one point, a court ordered him not to let his girlfriend stay at the mayoral mansion while his wife and children were at home.
Mr Giuliani had been expected to testify that Ms Hanover was cruel to him in the years before they split, including the time he was receiving treatment for prostate cancer. In court papers, he alleged that Ms Hanover kicked him out of their room in the official residence while he was having nausea-inducing chemotherapy, moving him to a small room with no private bathroom, and waking him up at 5am by exercising in the room directly above him.
In turn, she was expected to accuse Mr Giuliani of destroying their marriage by having more than one affair, including a relationship with a member of his staff.
Last month, the same judge ordered Mr Giuliani to pay Ms Hanover child support of $8,000 (£5,000) a month, which, with other expenses, brought his monthly payments to more than $20,000. The judge increased the amounts after Mr Giuliani acknowledged he would earn some $8m this year in speaking fees.
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