New York- Giants star Michael Strahan has a secret mistress and flaunted her in front of his wife, Jean, phoning her while Jean was in the same room – and leaving a present for “the other woman” where his spouse would see it, his wife’s lawyer charged yesterday.
The lawyer, Ellen Marshall, said she will file papers today, responding to Michael Strahan’s divorce filing Monday.
Marshall is expected to name Strahan’s mistress, who lives overseas, and give details of what the lawyer described as “a pattern of domestic violence” against her client.
“The violent and abusive relationship can be medically verified,” Marshall claimed. She added that “things got really out of control” when the Strahans lived in his native Germany during the early 1990s.
When the couple moved to the United States, Jean Strahan told police in East Stroudsburg, Pa., about the alleged abuse so that it would be on record, Marshall said.
A spokesman for the East Stroudsburg police confirmed that cops had visited the Strahan house on more than one occasion, but would not give any specifics.
Michael Strahan, while declining comment on the charges of marital infidelity, said, “It’s unfortunate that some marriages don’t always work out for both parties, but that’s a painful reality of the times we live in.
“I love my children with all my heart and will continue to be the father figure that I had growing up. I owe it to my daughters to end my marriage respectfully and with dignity.
“I would never physically or psychologically harm any of my loved ones, especially my wife. That’s simply not the man I am. I will continue to respect Jean’s privacy and not contribute to a public spectacle of an extremely private matter.”
Marshall said Jean stayed in the marriage, despite the alleged abuse, because “for a long time, things calmed down significantly. They were in counseling and she loved him.”
The couple married in 1999 and have twin baby daughters.
Marshall said that Michael, a standout defensive end, had demanded a divorce in January, shortly after a weekend away with his mistress. Before that weekend, Strahan would call his mistress with his wife in the room and left a present for her out in the open.
“She knew he was seeing another woman,” Marshall said.
The marital strife became public last Thursday, when Jean called police in Montclair, N.J., to report that her husband had verbally abused her during an argument over money.
“You bitch, you f – – – ing better get the money back in the account, I’m going to make you go to the bank,” he screamed, according to the police report, as he backed her up against a wall.
A hearing on the menacing case is tomorrow.
New York Daily News account: – The charges of spousal abuse and child neglect levied against Giants defensive end Michael Strahan by his wife are “completely bogus” and “blatantly false,” a mutual friend of the Strahans told the Daily News last night. And the friend believes they are being orchestrated by Jean Strahan’s lawyer as part of an attempt to break the couple’s prenuptial agreement.
“In all the years I’ve known both of them I have never ever seen in his behavior anything that was at all abusive, threatening or menacing,” the friend said. “In fact I’ve never even seen him raise his voice to her. You get lawyers involved and all of a sudden there’s mudslinging in the papers, when the real truth is this is not indicative of their relationship. This is not him at all.”
The friend spoke out one day after Michael filed for divorce, got a restraining order against his wife and accused her of taking $3.3 million out of their joint account. Those accusations came four days after Jean called the police on Michael, accused him of “verbal harassment” and got a restraining order against him.
Yesterday, Michael issued a statement through his spokesman that said, “I would never physically or psychologically harm any of my loved ones, especially my wife. That’s simply not the man I am.”
The friend said the incident last Thursday occurred when Strahan noticed $1.7 million missing from their joint account and Jean refused to say where it was.
Last night, Jean’s lawyer, Ellen Marshall, admitted Jean did move a total of $3.3 million out of the account, but kept it in the same bank and immediately told Michael. Marshall added that was in response to an incident in January when Michael, “after he returned from visiting his paramour,” moved $250,000 from their account into an investment that he told Jean would cost only $50,000. He also canceled Jean’s credit cards and fired the domestic staff at their Montclair, N.J., mansion, Marshall said.
Marshall added that Jean, who gave birth to twin girls in October, is “pleased” a judge ordered her to put the $3.3 million in escrow. “That’s why she moved it,” Marshall said. “So that it would be kept safe.” Marshall added that more than $19 million is still in their joint accounts, and that “several other million dollars are held by a money manager who is friend of Michael’s. She has no knowledge of where that money is.”
That money will be a major issue tomorrow morning when Strahan vs. Strahan gets underway in Essex County family court in Newark. Meanwhile, the Strahans’ mutual friend was most concerned about Michael’s reputation. Marshall insisted there have been previous incidents of domestic abuse with Michael that “will be testified to at trial.” She also said the mutual friend who spoke to the News last night “has a pretty loose acquaintance with the truth.”