Marriage
Holm married actress Joan Collins in November 1985. The marriage was annulled in December 1986.
According to Collins, the marriage quickly degenerated into a string of "interminable arguments... and hearty crockery-throwing rows." She said Holm was a bully with a ferocious temper and "the most combative person I've ever met."
The marriage was annulled in December 1986 and Holm was locked out of Collins's new house. Undaunted, he gave poolside interviews (in leopard-skin briefs) blaming Collins's identification with her Dynasty character. "Joan is consumed by Alexis, that's why she's doing this. She really loves me and I love her and we'll get back together, I know it." He contested a pre-nuptial agreement, limiting him to 20 per cent of Collins's $5 million earnings during their 13 months together. Collins hired flamboyant divorce lawyer Marvin Mitchelson and the proceedings became a media circus.
When Holm and his supporters picketed Collins' Beverly Hills house waving placards, he became a national punchline. David Letterman joked about Peter Holm's Top 10 Grievances Against Joan Collins, which included "No. 5. Wouldn't Support His Campaign for Presidency of 'Weaselly Gigolo Club'" and "No. 2. Somebody Finally Told Him What 'Parasite' Means."
At the trial, Mitchelson produced Holm's secret lover, an aspiring starlet called Romina Danielson, and grilled her so intensely she fainted on the stand, conveniently revealing her cleavage right by photographers.
Holm lost his case, collecting only $1 million as agreed in the pre-nup. A New York radio station hosted a fundraiser for him and he retreated to Switzerland. Directly after her final court appearance Collins famously declared "I don't need a husband, what I need is a wife!"
Collins gave her candid side of the break-up in Second Act, her second volume of memoirs, and subsequently referred to him only as "the Swede."
Read more about this topic: Peter Holm
Famous quotes containing the word marriage:
“We have seen that men are learning that work, productivity, and marriage may be very important parts of life, but they are not its whole cloth. The rest of the fabric is made of nurturing relationships, especially those with children—relationships which are intimate, trusting, humane, complex, and full of care.”
—Kyle D. Pruett (20th century)
“We hope the day will soon come when every girl will be a member of a great Union of Unmarried Women, pledged to refuse an offer of marriage from any man who is not an advocate of their emancipation.”
—Tennessee Claflin (1846–1923)