David Geffen‘s estranged husband Donovan Michaels is suing the billionaire music and movie mogul with claims Geffen promised to provide “lifelong” financial support to Michaels but then “cut him off” and evicted him shortly after filing for divorce in May.
In his new 33-page complaint filed Tuesday and obtained by Rolling Stone, Michaels, whose legal name is David Armstrong, says he and Geffen met on the website SeekingArrangements.com in 2016, when Geffen was 73. Armstrong says the businessman who famously worked with the Eagles, Joni Mitchell, and Bob Dylan before co-founding DreamWorks Pictures with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, paid him for sex at first but eventually professed his love and convinced him they were in a “genuine and enduring” relationship. Armstrong says he “believed he had finally found someone” who cared about his “traumatic upbringing” in the foster care system and “maybe even cared.”
According to the lawsuit, Geffen, 82, sat down with Armstrong, 32, in the early months of the pandemic and “orally and unambiguously agreed” to generously support Armstrong for the rest of his life, even in the event of a break-up, so long as Armstrong gave up his independence and modeling career and agreed to become Geffen’s full-time travel companion, homemaker, health advisor, caretaker, and “life partner.”
Armstrong claims that after his difficult youth, he believed Geffen was offering him a “new beginning.” He says they traveled the globe together, acquired property, got married on March 7, 2023, and co-hosted elaborate gatherings for Geffen and his social, political, and philanthropic friends. He says Geffen gifted him valuable art and a watch worth several million dollars.
Armstrong says after the marriage, Geffen became more controlling, allegedly telling him “where to go, what to wear, what to read, what to watch, and what to say.” He claims Geffen “regularly bragged to his rich and successful friends” that he rescued Armstrong from poverty. He said Geffen’s alleged attempts to score “social virtue points” were “demeaning and humiliating,” straining their relationship. Armstrong claims that he tried to keep up with Geffen’s “fast lifestyle,” which allegedly included drug use, but his “traumatic past was an emotional ticking time bomb, and the drugs only increased [his] inner turmoil and stress symptoms.”
According to the new lawsuit, Geffen reacted negatively when Armstrong sought treatment for addiction and later told Geffen he wanted to develop “an independent identity that he could be proud of, not one solely tied to Geffen and his singular approval.”
Armstrong says Geffen responded by “cutting him off, demanding a divorce,” and ordering him on June 24 to “immediately vacate” his New York residence. At the same time Armstrong was told to pack up and leave, the lawsuit says, Geffen was hosting a party on his superyacht in Venice, Italy, celebrating the wedding of fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez.
Love Music?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in Australian/New Zealand music and globally.
Geffen did not respond to a request for comment on the new lawsuit. When his divorce lawyer, Laura Wasser, filed his divorce petition, the paperwork noted the couple had no prenup. The filing said Geffen was willing to pay spousal support, which typically lasts less than the length of the marriage. In California, Armstrong also would be entitled to half of Geffen’s earnings during their marriage. Geffen is worth more than $8 billion, according to Forbes, but he amassed his fortune before meeting Armstrong. If his cash flow over the last few years came from dividends, residuals, or loans against investments, his marital earnings could be minimal.
As part of his lawsuit, Armstrong says he wants the court to step in and “order Geffen to account to Michaels for all the joint property, earnings and income and all property acquired therewith, which resulted from all personal services, skills, effort, and work that Michaels and Geffen, and each of them, performed, expended, or contributed during the period of their relationship and while they lived with each other.”
In the complaint, Armstrong says he feels “Geffen discarded him just as easily as he had acquired him.” He claims that when he tried to negotiate with Geffen, the high-powered businessman tried to “bully and tighten his control” by demanding Armstrong fire his lawyers and work only with Geffen’s “handpicked” team of attorneys.
“Like a used object, Michaels was thrown away, emotionally and financially devastated – left worrying about whether he would be homeless in a moment’s notice and impoverished from the lifestyle he had grown accustomed to, in direct breach of the parties’ express and implied agreements,” the lawsuit states.
“This case is not about a mere personal falling out – it is about the systemic exploitation of a vulnerable, marginalized young gay Black man by a wealthy, powerful white gay billionaire who believed himself untouchable,” the filing alleges. “Geffen used a toxic mix of seduction, control, promises of love, and lavish displays of wealth to entrap Michaels in a cycle of dependency, submission, and humiliation. Behind the glittering facade of their relationship was a calculated pattern of abuse and commodification.”
The new lawsuit is seeking “adequate support necessary to pay [Armstrong] reasonable general living expenses for the rest of his life,” a home for Armstrong that Geffen cannot reclaim, and any other damages proven at trial. Armstrong’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, did not respond to a request for comment.
From Rolling Stone US
