Comedian Chris Rock to Be Rocked by Paternity Suit
April 15, 2007 by Staff
Filed under Entertainment
(Akiit.com) If at first you don’t succeed in Georgia, try again in New York.
At least, that’s what a woman who claims that Chris Rock is the father of her 13-year-old son is planning to do.
Kali Bowyer told Georgia’s Statesboro Herald Thursday that she will be refiling a paternity lawsuit in New York, closer to where Rock lives, on the advice of her attorney. She had originally filed papers in Bulloch County in March, but no ruling had been issued yet as to whether the Georgia court has jurisdiction.
According to court documents, Bowyer is seeking reasonable child support, medical coverage and attorney fees if a DNA test determines that Rock is the father.
“We were friends and we spent time together,” she told the Herald, describing the nature of her erstwhile relationship with the actor, which she described to the New York Daily News as “friends with benefits.”
She has denied, however, an Apr. 3 item in the Daily News that stated that she was in debt and didn’t have medical insurance.
”That is not true,” Bowyer told the Chicago Sun-Times. ”I have medical insurance and have always been able to provide for my son and other children.”
The Sun-Times reported last week that Bowyer’s son, Jordan, had suffered a seizure recently and was undergoing tests for epilepsy, with the divorced mother of three telling the newspaper that her son’s health issues had motivated her to return to her quest to have Rock take a paternity test.
“This has been going on since 1994,” Bowyer, a free-lance journalist and TV producer, said. “I’m not just someone who came out of the woodwork yesterday…I’m not some sort of gold digger…I’m just looking for what’s right and just, and want to learn as much as we can about Jordan’s biological history.”
Rock’s rep has not yet responded to reporters’ requests for comment on the matter.
In the meantime, however, the Grammy-winning comedian has been busy reassuring his fans that marriage is for him.
Akiit.com reported in November that Rock, 42, had started divorce proceedings against his wife of 10 years, Malaak, 37. Nothing concrete surfaced, but since then the actor has had to take time out to assert that his life in no way resembles his mixed-up character’s in I Think I Love My Wife.
But while a simple, “no, we’re fine” and a family appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show held off the wolf pack for a few months, myriad reports of Rock’s marriage being on the rocks also spurred the husband and father of two (as far as he knows) to speak out.
“Though we have tried in the past to take the high road and not comment on the tabloid media, we find it necessary to express on record how unfortunate it is that the Daily News, specifically, and other tabloid outlets have chosen to print untrue rumors and lies about our family and marriage,” Rock and Malaak said in a statement to People in March.
“It is extremely hurtful to us, our children, and our extended family. We remain, as always, very happy and committed to our marriage and the beautiful family that we have built.”
Or, as he told Jane magazine, “It’s all a bunch of horses–t.”
Malaak and her hubby strolled the red carpet arm in arm Mar. 7 at the Los Angeles premiere of the film, which features Rock as a successful, happily married-yet-bored businessman who’s tempted by a sexy single gal who used to date one of his friends.
Warding off suggestions that the timing of the film was odd, considering all the talk of real-life marital strife, Rock assured the Hartford Courant that the comedy was pure fiction.
“It’s not my special life,” he said. “I definitely relate to the character. I’ve been married 10 years. I have two kids. I live in the suburbs. I commute into the city. It stops there, pretty much.”
The Rocks, who met in 1994 and tied the knot on Nov. 23, 1996, have two daughters, Lola Simone, 4 1/2, and Zahra Savannah, who will be three next month.
By Natalie Finn