(AllHipHop News) Actor Terrence Howard has been dealt a legal blow in his court battle with his ex-wife after a judge ruled to reinstate his divorce settlement.
The “Empire” star and Michelle Ghent were married for just a year until 2011, and they subsequently became embroiled in a bitter legal fight over spousal support.
They reached an agreement in 2012, allowing them to finalize their divorce in 2013, but in 2015, the star successfully fought to have the deal overturned, amid claims he signed the paperwork under duress.
He accused Ghent of threatening to leak embarrassing information about his sex life to the press if he didn’t grant her financial support for three years.
Earlier this week, justices from the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles ruled “the passage of time negates Howard’s claim.”
They also ruled his several attempts to reconcile with Ghent proved he wasn’t under duress when he signed the agreement.
Howard was ordered to pay Michelle’s appeal fees, according to the New York Post’s Page Six.
In 2012, Howard was ordered to pay Michelle $5,800-a-month in spousal support and as much as $4 million -a-year, depending on his earnings.
Howard is currently married to third wife, Mira Pak, and the couple has two sons – Qirin, 22 months, and Hero, seven months.
Michelle Ghent was granted a restraining order against the actor in 2013 after she alleged he kicked her and threatened to kill her.
The actor insisted he was acting in self-defense, and told Rolling Stone magazine, “She was trying to Mace me and you can’t see anything so all you can do is try to bat somebody away, and I think that something caught her. But I wasn’t trying to hit her.”
After two failed marriages, Terrence insists he is now “settled” with his third wife.
“Two weeks after meeting Mira, I gathered up things associated with my past and found a nice hill and buried them all there,” he told People.com in March (17). “Mira settled me. Our marriage is effortless. Relationships are hard work, but we really don’t fight.”