Good grief, I think you are right. He was trying to get her to kill herself. He carefully arranged the entire divorce. He even got other attorneys in the area not to represent her. As a lawyer he arranged to take the house, the kids and the money so he could run off with a former flight attendant who was 17 year younger. Nice guy.
There must be something in the water in La Jolla. Dr. Seuss lived their with his first wife but he got her to commit suicide so he could marry. Their stories are similar except for the outcome. The second wife was a piece of work.
https://www.goalcast.com/dr-seuss-wife-helen-palmer-audrey-geisel/
The NYTimes did a very “interesting” piece about the second Mrs.Geisel
The Times article is behind a paywall but you can read some of the “good” parts here
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/dr-seuss-affair-wife-suicide/
“He was trying to get her to kill herself.”
The same has been said about RFK Jr. And she did.