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'Empire' Curated Collection Unveiling

Source: Jim Spellman / Getty

Terrence Howard might have to dish out some of his Empire earnings due to a ruling on Wednesday. In a California appeals court, a three-justice panel ruled to reinstate Howard’s divorce judgement involving his second wife — a judgement that was tossed out by a lower court in 2015. The ruling could allow Michelle Ghent to take some of Howard’s income from the Fox show Empire. 

According to Page Six, The judgement was originally tossed out because the 2015 lower court determined Howard was under duress when he agreed to pay Ghent extensive spousal support. The Hustle and Flow star claimed Ghent made threats against him in a 2011 phone call, which could have led to embarrassing information being leaked. Howard says this forced him to agree to the generous spousal support, a payment that would have Howard paying 5,800 per month and as much as $4 million per year, depending on Howard’s earnings.

Now, Wednesday’s ruling argues that the passage of time negates Howard’s accusations that he was forced to sign the agreement. The ruling also said Howard’s repeated attempts at reconciling with his ex-wife prove that their was no coercion when signing the agreement. In a deposition, Ghent denied extorting the actor and argued that he had no proof of her 2011 phone threats. Ghent was unable to defend herself back in 2015 because of procedural reasons.

Now, with Howard’s spousal support agreement reinstated a portion of his cash is up for grabs. He is also called to pay the costs of the appeal Ghent filed. Damn, more money, more problems.

 

Terrence Howard Thought He Could Avoid Paying Spousal Support, But The Court Disagreed  was originally published on globalgrind.com