On This Date November 16, 1988 Robin' Tyson
A month after filing for divorce, Robin Givens filed a $125 million lawsuit for libel against her estranged husband Mike Tyson. The suit stems from allegations made by Tyson that Givens was a gold digger while calling his son to be former mother-in-law “the slime of slime.” The couple had married in February and had a brief, tumultuous marriage that lasted less than a year.
With the undisputed heavyweight championship, Mike Tyson, at the age of 21, appeared to be on the verge of the greatest career in the history of boxing after his 90-second destruction of Michael Spinks in Atlantic City on June 27th. A few months prior to his fight with Spinks, Mike Tyson married actress Robin Givens in a civil ceremony in New York. The 23-year-old was best known for her role on the sitcom “Head of the Class.”
The honeymoon for Mike Tyson and Robin Givens was over before it began. Givens’ mother, Ruth Roper, demanded access to Tyson’s money to make a $4.5 million payment on a house in Bernardsville, New Jersey. As Mike Tyson was in the final days of training for his match with Spinks, Robin Givens went public with stories that she and her mother endured regular beatings while at home with the champion. While Tyson was dealing with his domestic troubles, he began breaking off relationships with his management team to give Don King more free reign over his career and finances.
The summer of 1988 was a crazy one for Iron Mike, as he had a street fight with Mitch “Blood” Green in Harlem and smashed his car into a tree in an alleged suicide attempt. Tyson and Givens sat down for a television interview with Barbara Walters on “20/20,” with his life coming off the rails. During the heavily watched interview, Robin Givens did most of the talking as Tyson sat meekly and listened. Among the things she claimed, Mike Tyson was manic-depressive, and she was afraid of him. Two days later, police were called to their home in New Jersey after Tyson had begun throwing furniture out the window, demanding Givens and her mother leave. Five days later, on October 7th, Robin Givens filed for divorce.
As the smoke was clearing from his tumultuous marriage to Robin Givens was still in the air, Mike Tyson gave an interview with the New York Post, calling his soon-to-be ex-wife a “Gold Digger” and calling his former mother in slime the “Slime of Slime.” This led to Givens filing the lawsuit. Eventually, the couple would reach an undisclosed settlement. However, their marriage remains a large topic of conversation when the life of Mike Tyson is discussed. Some claim that Robin Givens destroyed his career and began his downfall. Years later, Tyson alleged that Givens even faked a pregnancy to get him to marry her. The marriage did not do much for Robin Givens, as she became one of the most disliked women in the world.