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The Associated Press
Diana Ross Divorces Husband
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) - Singer Diana Ross and her husband of 14 years, Arne
Naess, have divorced in the Dominican Republic.
Judge Samuel Arias Arzeno, who granted the divorce Friday, said Ross was not present in the Santo Domingo court. She authorized the divorce, for reasons of ``mutual consent,'' through a written document, the judge said Saturday.
The Dominican Republic offers quick divorces to foreigners as long as one of the spouses is present.
Naess announced the couple's separation in April. The couple married on Feb. 1, 1986.
Ross, 55, and Naess, 61, have two children. The singer-actress also has two daughters from a previous marriage and another daughter from a relationship with Motown founder Berry
Gordy.
Ross became a household name in the 1960s with The Supremes. The group's hits include ``Baby Love,'' ``Where Did Our Love Go?'' and ``Stop, in the Name of Love.''
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From Damian Whitworth
(Washington)
Back To The Top
The singer Diana Ross was arrested and taken off her Concorde flight yesterday for assaulting a female security officer. The tearful 55-year-old diva was released nearly five hours later, without charge, and given a police caution. The incident arose after the officer brushed her breast during a search, and Miss Ross angrily reciprocated by running her hands over
the guard's chest.
THE only surprise about Diana Ross's altercation with a female airport security guard is that it has not happened - or, rather, we have not heard of it happening - before. That she is supremely temperamental is as much part of
her legend as are her Motown hits.
"Just because I have my standards," Ross once said, "they think I'm a bitch." But many who have worked with the singer attest to the trials she sets; she must not only be obeyed, she must be called "Miss Ross", even by those
who know her well.
The tales of her tantrums are legion and, in recent months, the break-up of her marriage may well have increased the pressure.
Michael Browne, a former assistant road manager, said that she gone through 42 secretaries in the five years in which he was working for her. "All you had to do was say one thing she didn't like or ask a question without her permission and you were out," he said.
Randy Taraborrelli, who wrote a biography of her, said it was a trying process and not just because her lawyers sought to thwart him. "It was a struggle because there's a
fan in me who will always think of her as the perfect star," he said. "And then there's the journalist, who has interviewed 403 people who tell me otherwise. You don't
have to be a great woman to be a great star. You just
have to be a great star. Maybe that's all we can expect of her."
When The Supremes sang their last in 1970, Miss Ross went on to further glories while the others faded. When she turned up at the funeral of Florence Ballard, the Supreme who was fired for being too fat, drunk and missing performances and who descended into
alcoholism and poverty, she made a grand entrance, to boos from onlookers, and was
criticized by other mourners for turning the event into a show.
Some have suggested that she has been driven to keep recording because of a resentment of younger stars coming up on the rails and that she is obsessed with
retaining a place in the spotlight. It has even been said that the timing of the announcement earlier this year of her split from her second husband, the Norwegian shipping
magnate, Arne Naess, was timed to coincide with the release of a new CD.
That seems harsh. Miss Ross has spoken of the anguish of
the break-up of what was clearly a difficult inter-continental relationship. She said she was hurt and shocked to hear
the marriage was over in a call from her publicist after her husband had spoken of it on television. "As far as I was concerned, we were still fixing things," she said.
People magazine reported recently that she had been increasingly lonely in the past two years and Mr Taraborrelli said: "The challenge for her is to find a man who can live up to the glory of Diana Ross. She's an intimidating person by virtue of her image, persona and wealth. All the great divas have that in common."
Who the
hell made J. Randy Taborrelli her 'Biographer'.
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