Gary Owens’ estranged wife requests $44K per month in spousal support
After almost two decades, the comedian and his wife, Kenya Duke, are splitting up
Looks like comedian Gary Owen may have to pay a pretty penny in spousal support if his estranged wife has anything to do with it.
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According to reports, Kenya Duke is seeking $44K a month in spousal support as the couple that has been together for almost twenty years heads to divorce court.
As theGrio previously reported, the duo has been married since 2003 and shares two adult children, but in March Duke filed for divorce in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Despite speculation, the official reasons for the couple parting ways remains unclear. But documents obtained by TMZ allegedly show that Duke is now requesting $44K a month in support, the amount she claims is equivalent to what Owen would normally deposit into her account for bills, living expenses, and other miscellaneous necessities.
She also notes that she was tasked with abandoning her own budding career in order to support her husband’s dreams of stardom, so he is directly responsible for why she can’t cover her own expenses. She then claims that her estranged husband’s monthly income usually hovers between $200K and $400K and has never dipped below $100K a month, even during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the documents, Duke said it was common for her spouse to have uncashed checks ranging between $300K and $600K piling up and that due to his affluence he was never in a rush to deposit them into his accounts.
Read More: Comedian Gary Owen shares how he met his wife Kenya and how he has fun with race
Owen, who got his start on BET’s Comic View in 1997, is most known for his stand-up and minor roles in films like Daddy Day Care, Think Like a Man, and Ride Along.
In an interview with theGrio‘s Natasha Alford in 2016, the couple said they enjoy a fun, successful marriage, and lovingly embrace the challenges of race within the context of their own interracial, blended family.
When speaking about being the first white man Duke ever dated, Owen laughed, saying, “That to me is a bigger honor than having a show on BET!”
He continued, “The fact that my game was so strong, that I was able to pull this beautiful Black lady.”
When recounting the story of how they met at a comedy club nearly two decades ago, he gushed, “I was like, ‘Look, I know I’m supposed to wait three days, but you’re gonna meet a lot of dudes in three days. I’m just letting you know now — I’m interested.’”
In 2019, per Page Six, Owen accused a Delta Airlines ticket agent of racially profiling Duke as she stood in a line for first-class passengers.
In an Instagram video, which rehashed the incident involving his wife and daughter after it had occurred, Owen said “So, they tell everybody to line up for first [class].”
“My wife gets in line, and the guy working the gate at B21, Cincinnati Airport, asks my wife, ‘Oh, are you in first?’ And my wife said, ‘Yeah, I am.’ And then my wife said, ‘Are you not gonna ask the guy behind me?’ And he goes, ‘No.’ My wife said, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘Cause I don’t feel like it.’”
Owen continued, “The guy behind her’s a white dude, and the ticket agent was a white dude. But he asked the Black lady, ‘Are you in first?’” Owen made it a point to say that his anger was not directed at the many employees of Delta who perform their jobs without insulting the dignity of others.
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Delta originally deflected the accusation, but later apologized to Duke and her family in a response via Yahoo Lifestyle.
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