At the moment, the final details of the agreement reached have not been revealed to the media, but the story of how they met, their marriage and their subsequent divorce David Geffen and Donovan Michaels It is undoubtedly a topic that can be talked about for a long time in Hollywood. After all, we’re talking about one of the richest people in the entertainment industry, with a fortune to indicate Vanity galleryit will be around 8,000 million euros after spending his life in music and cinema.
Obviously the first thing is to know who David Geffen is. He was born in New York in mid-February 1943 little by little He became the richest openly gay person in the worldAlthough it has been isolated for a long time. The reason for his wealth is because he was in the right place at the right time. And you have a bulletproof cultural business vision. Only in this way can we understand the commitment to some of the most important singers and bands of the second half of the twentieth century.
In short, Geffen is the main creator, thanks to Geffen Records, of some of the most famous albums by performers and groups such as Bob Dylan, Nirvana, the latest album by John Lennon, Peter Gabriel, Sonic Youth, Aerosmith, Neil Young, Donna Summer or Guns ‘N Roses. Special mention also to Cher, whose boyfriend —Although he had already declared himself gay: he did so very early on to avoid going to the Vietnam War—. In addition, he created a very powerful cinematic trio with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, with whom he founded one of the most famous production companies in Hollywood, Dreamworks, with an innumerable line of work behind him.
The subject of multiple theories, such as, as reported by the aforementioned media, the urban legend that she was secretly married to Keanu Reeves (who was strangely married without knowing it, and according to the orthodox rite, to Winona Ryder, due to a misunderstanding in the filming of the film about Count Dracula Coppola), also He has been a Broadway producer of musicals such as Cats also Dream girls.
In short, Geffen is essential to understanding popular culture from the 1980s to the present day. That is why it was surprising that she got married, in March 2023, and two years after seeing them for the first time – even though they have known each other since 2016, when he introduced him as his personal trainer – in a ceremony that went beyond the name intimate, as only four people attended, with the dancer Donovan Michaels. Half a century younger than him. He did so, as we later learned, leaving a large number of American journalists in disbelief, without a prenuptial agreement.
But their recent divorce battle has brought the truth to light. The first thing: that Donovan Michaels isn’t even his name, but his name is David ArmstrongHe grew up in Imlay City, a town of just 3,700 people, with few African Americans, where he was adopted by an ultra-religious couple who had 15 other children. These brothers additionally confirmed this The Wall Street Journal That the young man had posters of women in bikinis in his room and was known to be a womanizer. Of course, he came to work at a gay porn studio under the name Brandon Foster.
Moreover, in the process, it came out that he was never a personal trainer: they met in a casual sexual encounter thanks to A dating site, Seeking, was created in 2009 and has a clear goal: to meet Sugar daddies. That is, the older men – Giffen is 82 – are looking, for their money, for younger people with whom they can have relationships and share their standard of living. According to Michael, the producer had paid him $10,000 for that meeting, a fact Geffen did not deny, and that during the marriage he declared that he would never lack for anything. The promise of financial security forever, which was the basis of the lawsuit.
Donovan Michaels accused Geffen of sexually exploiting and manipulating him. As the New York newspaper explained, at the hearing, “Michaels described their marriage as a crooked power play on Geffen’s part, which collapsed as soon as he stopped drinking. On the other hand, the producer denied this account and asserted that the relationship ended because of the young man’s exorbitant expenses and drug use.” The millionaire declared that he treated the young man “like a king.” Spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on clothes, cosmetics, trips, and even dental surgeries and hair removal.
Geffen, who had the stars’ attorney, Laura Wasser, at his side, warmly offered him, as he claimed there were “irreconcilable differences”, “spousal support” for her ex-husband as well as paying court costs. That is, maintaining your standard of living for a period slightly less than the duration of marriage: About $50,000 a month and free accommodation in one of Geffen’s apartments, The rent is about $15,000 per month. All this was not enough for Michaels, who stated that he wanted to have a career and that his partner prevented him from doing so because “there was no need for him to work.”
According to the young man, what Geffen did was exploit his “humble origins.” to demand a full sex life, adding that his pleasure was obtained “by causing pain to the poor black boy he saved.” Geffen countered: First, he said they had never spent a night in the same bed, and if he had to talk about money, he would have to mention that he had already given his partner half a million dollars since the start of the operation, and that he had given her, in the form of gifts, during their relationship, five million dollars worth of jewelry or art.
The situation has been so tense since Michaels filed a civil suit against Geffen in July, stating that if his standard of living was “more than $3 million a month,” the $50,000 he offered him was insufficient, prompting them to sit down to talk again. It is not for nothing that Geffen viewed it as a blackmail attempt in which Donovan claimed he would reveal details about his sexual practices. But they finally reached an agreement, which was concluded, according to the official document, at the beginning of this November. It details the earnings, especially the performance of its shares, in Geffen, So it can be self-evident that Michaelis can claim at most half of the said wealth. The numbers are unknown, but ultimately, this is what not signing a prenup means.