I know this will probably get like four comments, but I’ve been following this story for a few months, and I’m sad to report that it’s an even bigger bummer than I originally imagined. Two years ago, David Geffen (who was at the time around 80 years old) married Donovan Michaels, a dancer who is 50 years younger than Geffen. In May, Geffen filed for divorce from Michaels (who also goes by David Armstrong). Soon after, we heard that Michael was making a play for a slice of Geffen’s vast fortune. There was no prenup, and I kind of felt like someone as notoriously private as David Geffen should just offer his estranged husband a large settlement and make him sign an NDA. Geffen has chosen not to settle this quietly, so Michaels is going public. Michaels is now suing Geffen:
David Geffen is being sued by his estranged husband, Donovan Michaels, for breach of contract. The billionaire and former record executive, 82, has allegedly reneged on his promise to provide “lifelong support” to the 32-year-old dancer (who also goes by the name David Armstrong) amid their ongoing divorce, according to court documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday, July 22.
Per the complaint reviewed by PEOPLE, Michaels is claiming that Geffen is in “breach of express oral contract” and “breach of implied contract” for “denying” him “full financial support” after the two separated on April 25, 2025.
“In addition to evicting Michaels, Geffen also cut him off from his status quo financial support,” Michaels’ lawyers allege in the complaint. In a statement shared with PEOPLE on Wednesday, July 23, Geffen’s lawyer Patty Glaser claimed that “there was no contract—express, written, oral, or implied—that has ever existed.”
“We will be vigorously and righteously defending against this false, pathetic lawsuit,” she added.
Geffen is now retired, and Forbes has reported that his net worth may be around $8.7 billion, while the Bloomberg Billionaires Index said that it is over $9.1 billion, putting him at no. 371 on its list of the world’s wealthiest people.
Granted, if there was no written, oral or implied contract, I understand why Geffen’s lawyers are “fighting” this. Although, let me just say… marriage is a contract. A prenup is also a contract, and Geffen didn’t have one of those either. Anyway, while People Mag didn’t cover the dirt in Michaels’ lawsuit, other outlets did.
David Geffen’s estranged husband has filed an explosive lawsuit accusing the legendary music mogul of exploiting, controlling and abusing him. Donovan Michaels, a 32-year-old model and former go-go dancer, accused the multibillionaire of treating him like “a living social experiment—a trophy to show off to his wealthy friends, under the guise of benevolence,” Variety reported.
In his lawsuit—which was filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court—Michaels alleges that Geffen, 82, got his much-younger partner addicted to illegal drugs, which he used as “tools of coercion” to lower Michaels’ resistance and increase his dependency. The complaint alleges that Geffen critiqued and controlled Michaels’ appearance and demanded “sexual access at will, including acts Michaels found degrading,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
According to the suit, the couple met on Seekingarrangements.com, a website that bills itself as a place where “accomplished individuals can make exceptional connections and find hypergamy”—also known as marrying up. On their first night together, Geffen paid Michaels $10,000 for sex, according to the lawsuit. He then began to learn more about Michaels’ background, including that he was orphaned and placed in the foster care system as an 18-month-old toddler. The suit alleges that after learning about Michaels’ “troubled past” and his “history of neglect, poverty, instability, and legal entanglements,” Geffen saw Michaels as “an object of exploitation: a young, attractive and gay black man whose trauma could be weaponized for Geffen’s personal gratification and public image.”
Over time, their paid sexual relationship evolved into a partnership, according to the complaint. “Geffen told Michaels he loved him and the two would treat one another as life partners, share all assets equally, and Geffen would support Michaels financially for life,” the complaint says. “Michaels gave up his dreams—his modeling career, his independence—to dedicate himself fully to this promise.”
When the couple married in a private ceremony in 2023 without a prenuptial agreement, the gesture “reinforced Michaels’ belief that the relationship was genuine and enduring,” the suit says. But Geffen was demeaning and controlling, according to the suit, which briefly references Geffen’s “abuse” and his “proclivities.” Sources told Variety that Michaels’ lawyers held back some of the more salacious allegations.
The complaint described how Geffen allegedly controlled every aspect of Michaels’ appearance, forcing him to undergo painful dental work and laser hair-removal treatments, and “cultivated Michaels’ insecurity and self-doubt” with back-handed insults about his past and lack of sophistication.
For the life of me, I cannot understand why Geffen didn’t pay his estranged husband, if only to keep this stuff out of the public record. As I said, this is even worse than I imagined.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Getty.