Posted on 06/22/2004 7:29:32 AM PDT by esryle
CHICAGO -- Illinois Republican Senate candidate Jack Ryan pressured his wife, actress Jeri Lynn Ryan, to have sex in clubs while others watched, she charged in divorce documents released Monday.
The "Boston Public" and "Star Trek: Voyager" actress said she angered Ryan by refusing. She did acknowledge infidelity on her part, which she said took place after their marriage was irretrievably broken.
In the documents, Ryan denied the allegations, saying he had been "faithful and loyal" to his wife. At a press conference Monday night, he expressed disappointment with the precedent set by the court order to release the documents.
"Someone was paid a lot of money to break into a file that Mom and Dad wanted to have sealed to protect their son," he said. "And now we're asking about what happened between a husband and wife in the most intimate part of the relationship."
The documents include hundreds of court-ordered blank or redacted pages, but what's left includes plenty of graphic detail about a bitter divorce.
Jeri Lynn Ryan charged during a custody hearing that Jack Ryan took her on surprise trips to New Orleans, New York and Paris in 1998, and that he insisted she go to sex clubs with him on each trip. She said that after going out to dinner with Ryan in New York, he demanded that she go to a club with him.
"It was a bizarre club with cages, whips and other apparatus hanging from the ceiling," she said.
She said Ryan asked her to perform a sexual act while others watched, and she refused. She said they left and Ryan apologized to her and said it was out of his system.
But then, she said, he took her to Paris and again took her to a sex club. She said she cried and became physically ill at the club, and her husband got angry with her. She said she could never get over that incident.
Ryan refused to address the charges directly Monday night, repeatedly referring to the court documents, where he said: "I was faithful and loyal to my wife throughout our marriage. I did arrange romantic getaways, but that did not include the activities she described. We did go to one avant-garde nightclub in Paris, which was more than either of us felt comfortable with. We left and vowed never to return."
He said he felt bad for their son that she would falsely accuse him and said she said she knew he had political aspirations.
Asked why Jeri Lynn Ryan made such specific allegations, Jack Ryan again referred to the court documents.
"You saw my response," he said. "That is not helpful toward what we're trying to accomplish as parents, to reopen those discussions."
In a statement released Monday evening, Jeri Lynn Ryan made no mention of the allegations, but said she now considered Ryan a good man and loving father.
"I consider Jack a friend," the statement said. "There was never any physical abuse in our marriage, either to myself or to our son. Nor to my knowledge was he ever unfaithful to me. Jack is a good man, a loving father and he shares a strong bond with our son. I have no doubt that he will make an excellent senator."
Judge Robert Schnider of Superior Court in Los Angeles ordered Friday the unsealing of portions of the records.
The two had vigorously fought the public disclosure of the files since before Jack Ryan's win in the March 16 Republican primary. They have argued making them public would be harmful to their 9-year-old son, Alex.
The Ryans said they were "disturbed and angered" by the decision but decided not to appeal.
Ryan had repeatedly assured GOP leaders the files contain nothing embarrassing enough to torpedo his bid for the Senate against Democrat Barack Obama.
Rumors about the documents' contents have been circulating since before the March 16 primary. Some of his GOP opponents raised them as an issue in that campaign, but Ryan won the primary handily.
Schnider said making the records public would prove harmful to the Ryans' son, and could prove embarrassing to the former investment banker and teacher. But he said the public deserved to know the contents
The Chicago Tribune and Chicago TV station WLS sued to have the documents released.
I disagree. It was NONE of the public's business to know about their divorce. Its an intimately personal matter. And for the morons in the media, I'd like to ask how they feel about THEIR divorce proceedings being made public? No human being could survive that kind of scrutiny. My sympathy is with the Ryans as a couple and their privacy has been violated for something completely specious and unrelated to the matter at hand. How Ryan's sex life with his wife affects his character as a person, I'd love to know. In a way, this disgraceful voyeurism is funny coming from the same people who told us Clinton's sex life was a private matter. When it comes to Republicans, there's an ugly double standard at work. That makes me outraged even though I don't like Ryan's handling of the situation.
Wow! Nice boilers...
Short version: Obama wins the Senate election, which that judge decided was in the public interest.
*shrugs*
I thought that was obvious...
Yep, the idiot judge should have said no to the media, this is private stuff and I'm keeping it sealed. If you want to look at the files, get the State Legislature to change the law.
"Both of them opposed opening the files to the press. It was the judge who overruled them. Jeri Ryan still thinks the world of her husband and that's gracious of her, considering how bitter the couple's divorce has been. My belief is a divorce proceeding is no one else's business."
I would qualify that there are some specific circumstances where a divorce proceeding is the business of third parties, but it should never be used by the media in this fashion.
For example, a single woman considering a marriage proposal from a divorced man. If I were the woman, I would check the divorce proceedings to see if any violence was mentioned.
I think this is more about political partisanship, with "sex sells" as a rationalization by the media over a cup of coffee.
You are correct, I just don't think thats at the heart of why this one was leaked.
There may be legitimate reasons for an interested party to look at divorce files, like the one you mentioned, but the media interest was pure sensationalism - it was all about sex. If there wasn't any of this stuff they could use against hubby Ryan in the files, I bet you my last dollar none of this would be on the front pages today.
This wasn't leaked to the press. The press filed a FOI suit when they couldn't get the divorce court records released.
Uhmmmm, uhhhhmm, what were we talking about.
If true, why did this guy needs to go to strip clubs?
It wasn't leaked; the files were released by the judge to the media over the combined objections of both husband and wife. They didn't want to put their son through it. Apparently the judge was more afraid of the media's wrath than he was soliticious of protecting the Ryans' marital privacy.
Of course you're right.
That didn't stop the LA Times and a liberal judge from their mission. That was to damage a Republican running for senate in Ill.
It's OUTRAGEOUS and were the circumstances reversed you can imagine how the Times would be treating the outlandish efforts of the evil Republicans to PRY into private matters.
Isn't that what they always say about Clintoon'S sexual harrassment of subordinates and the perjury that went with it?
I don't agree with his judgment but a couple's marital business shouldn't be fodder for the media.
Has anyone ever messed with a beautiful actress and not had this happen to them?
As Ronald Reagan might say: "One actress is enough."
Well, Mr. Ryan must be one gargantuan knucklehead. If his name were William Jefferson Clinton, he'd have a mortal lock on the general election! "I DID have sexual relations with that woman...Miss Ryan."
And while we're at it, how does a sex club get a license to operate?
I agree with that as well. Why did the judge allow it, Titillation? Excuse the pun.
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