Lionel Richie recalls fight between exes Brenda…
Lionel Richie wanting back on a “disastrous” second in his love life.
In his new memoir, “Truly,” the 76-year-old singer finally opened up about the June 1988 fight between his first spouse, Brenda Harvey-Richie, and his second spouse, Diane Alexander, an incident he called “the scandal of my century.”
“What very few people knew was that Brenda and I were separated,” Richie wrote in his guide, per People. “I got a place at the beach, and I was hiding out there, trying to be alone, trying to decompress somehow, because it was killing everyone.”
Lionel Richie, Brenda Harvey at a social gathering in Santa Monica in May 1988. Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
Lionel Richie, Diane Alexander at “The Preacher’s Wife” premiere in New York in Dec. 1996. Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
Richie recalled that he went back to LA to go to Alexander at her Beverly Hills home, and the then-dating couple have been shocked by Harvey’s arrival.
“When the door opens, Brenda is standing there,” he said. “There is a massive confrontation. Diane is in total shock and I’m trying to leave, to draw Brenda away. It’s the most awful screaming match of life, and it’s all in this small entryway.”
Nicole Richie, Lionel Richie, and Brenda Harvey Richie. Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
Lionel Richie’s new memoir. Amazon
Richie wrote that he left during the fight and tried to take Harvey with him, but she went back and saved combating Alexander.
“The neighbors called the police. Charges were brought and then dropped,” he said.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Harvey was booked on suspicion of corporal injury to a partner, resisting arrest and battery. Lionel reportedly told police at the time that he was “kicked in the stomach area” by Harvey.
Lionel Richie and Diane Alexander in December 1996. Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
In his guide, the “All Night Long” singer called the incident “just raw and ugly and disastrous,” including that “the most painful part, the tragedy of our lives” was that “Brenda was heartbroken.”
“That’s the saddest day in the life of a marriage,” he admitted. “When you know you may love each other, still, and you have a history that you will always have, but it’s over. And you know it.”
Brenda Harvey and Lionel Richie attend Share Boomtown Party in April 1984. Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
Brenda Harvey, Lionel Richie, Nicole Richie at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in 1990. Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
Richie and Harvey adopted daughter Nicole Richie, 44, together before they formally divorced in 1993, 5 years after the fight.
The Grammy Award winner married Alexander in 1995, and they welcomed son Miles Richie, 31, and daughter Sofia Richie, 27, together, before the couple received divorced in 2004.
Richie has been Swiss model Lisa Parigi since 2014.
Lionel Richie, Diane Alexander in Los Angeles in July 1993. Getty Images
“I will forever give it up to both of my exes for being strong, loving, and devoted moms,” Richie wrote in his memoir. “Nicole and Brenda were two peas in a pod from the start. Miles and Sofia adore Diane, as she adores them both.”
Lionel Richie, Miles Richie and Diane Alexander attend a charity event in July 1996. Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
Speaking to People about his memoir, Richie said: “There are certain things you realize in your life that you got through them because you tried to forget. That’s where the book took many a turn because it started getting deeper into the emotions of my life.”
“There were some moments when I definitely wanted to remember,” he added, “but there were also others that I had tried to forget and had to dig up.”
“Truly” is out now.
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