The STAMFORD ADVOCATE has the painful details of Jim Nantz’s divorce proceeding last week, Daniel Tepfer’s lede:
Watching the Jim Nantz divorce trial was like seeing a car crash — you just couldn’t look away. Clutching a pair of reading glasses in his hands, the 50-year-old Nantz teared up at times as he described his wife’s foibles that he claims led up to the breakdown of their marriage
(Lorrie, Jim Nantz divorcing after 26 years of marriage)
Nantz had been married 26 years to wife Lorrie before asking for a divorce last year. The sportscaster cried as a he told Superior Court Judge Howard Owens that his wife’s “excessive spending and lack of support” was the reason for the split.
That lack of support apparently led the 50-year-old Nantz to take up with a 29-year-old girlfriend.
While on the witness stand, Nantz admitted he has a 29-year-old girlfriend who he met while promoting his book, “Always By My Side,” which he wrote about his now deceased father, that was published in May 2008. However, he contended he only started dating his girlfriend because the marriage had “died” more than 10 years ago.
That apparently was news to Mrs. Nantz,who later testified she was still going to marriage counseling until 2008, trying to save their marriage, when Nantz told her he wanted a divorce.
Nantz ’s side of the story included this attempt to paint a dark portrait of his wife:
In 2007, Nantz became the first television broadcaster to host a Super Bowl, the NCAA men’s basketball championship and the Master’s golf tournament in the same year.
“It was the triple crown. People told me I should write down my remembrances of the events, it was that big, but Lorrie didn’t care,” he said.
Nantz cited other instances of Lorrie’s lack of support, but there’s never a justification for adultery.
At stake is Nantz’s $7M per year salary, which includes $4M per year in endorsements for companies like Rolex and Titliest. Nantz has been CBS Sports’ signature voice for decades, and his Mr. Clean image has made him an ideal fit as a celeb spokesman for high-end companies.
Will the news of his divorce, and more specifically, his infidelity affect his career? I wouldn’t think it would with CBS, but the endorsements could be another story. If the New York tabs jump on the “girlfriend” angle, things could possibly get ugly.
3:53 am on October 19th, 2009
Didn’t he have plans for politics after his broadcasting career? I guess he’ll fit right in now.
9:28 am on October 19th, 2009
Who’s next at CBS?
11:18 am on October 19th, 2009
I feel his pain. I won the Super Bowl in Madden and my wife didn’t even care.
11:19 am on October 19th, 2009
Wait till Lorrie gets that divorce settlement; the sting of lost money will really hit him. I hope his 29 year old mistress is low maintenance; yeah, right, she’s not interested in sugar daddy’s money.
11:21 am on October 19th, 2009
Did he file the divorce before getting the girlfriend? If so, who cares, the marriage was pretty much over. I don’t see why someone has to remain alone while their spouse drags out a divorce proceeding.
3:27 pm on October 19th, 2009
Maybe it wasn’t so much the excessive spending as the fact–if that picture is any indication–that she ate most of what she bought.
5:31 pm on October 19th, 2009
divorce…. a tradition like no other!!!!!
11:45 pm on October 19th, 2009
He’s a famous millionaire so you’d think she would spend 45 minutes out of her free day to take care of herself…you’d think. I hope he was cheating on that gluttonous animal since the mid eighties.
12:44 am on October 20th, 2009
I wonder if Nantz has had the young mistress for a sleepover in Butler Cabin?
12:54 am on October 21st, 2009
Butler Cabin? He was probably all up in her crow’s nest.
3:36 pm on February 8th, 2010
So that’s why Jimbo has been a little too quiet about Tiger’s infidelities, especially during CBS’ first broadcast of 2010.
3:58 pm on February 10th, 2010
Lorrie has no idea how to take care of a man. Jim needs a partner in life, and she failed to be that for him.
7:27 pm on March 5th, 2010
It seems he wants to caddy for Tiger when he returns—it could lead to a few more “contacts”
He’s like a puppet that CBS winds up and he starts with “Hello Friends” as though butter would melt in his mouth
He’s sickening to watch and listen to
7:30 pm on April 26th, 2010
Lorrie was always there for him, they guy travels so much maybe he did not take care her as a woman ….amazing the guy writes a book about her dad and family while cheating on wife amazing…..I hope Lorrie will be fine now without him……he s got so much ego…..