When Robin Givens found out that her ex-husband Mike Tyson had a biopic in the works, she immediately had a cease and desist sent. During her short marriage to Tyson, she claimed that she experienced domestic violence and she didn’t want to be depicted in the film nor did she want his account of their marriage to be included. Givens said that once found out about the film, she was anxious.
“I felt this drop in the pit of my stomach and was like, ‘Oh no, here we go again,’” Givens told People. “I felt like the world was crumbling again.”
Tyson and Givens married in February of 1988 and divorced eight months later. It wasn’t until 2009 that Tyson admitted to laying hands on Givens.
“I have socked her before, and she socked me before, as well,” he told Oprah Winfrey during an interview. “It was just that kind of relationship.”
Givens said after they ended their relationship, the Brooklyn boxer promised to make her life a living hell.
“I remember my ex-husband calling up and saying, ‘I’ve decided I’m not going to kill you. I’m going to make your life so miserable you’re going to slit your own throat and die,’” she said Tyson said to her.
According to Page Six, in September, her legal team sent a ceast-and-desist “demanding that Mr. Tyson cease and desist from further defaming Ms. Givens, and to put those producing, writing and/or directing the proposed Tyson biopic, and those producing Mr. Tyson’s podcast, on notice that they are to refrain from portraying Ms. Givens in a false, negative and defamatory light.”
After they broke up, Givens was seen as a gold digger who drained Tyson of millions, a sentiment that Tyson echoed. Since her image took a blow because of false accusations against her, she didn’t want to re-live that again. It’s been over three decades since their split and she said Tyson is still defaming her.
“The marriage was eight months of my life and yet he’s still saying slanderous things on his podcast,” she said. “He’s not physically hitting me anymore, but it hurts almost as much.”