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 mentioned the double standard: sex is a private matter where a Democrat is concerned and its a political weapon when a Republican is in the picture. That's exactly why the media insisted on knowing what they knew they had no right to know in the first place, until a judge surrendered to them.
Another Hollyweird marriage down the tube.
Thanks, I missed that point.
Democrat judge?
No Republican with the name of 'Ryan' will ever be elected to public office in Illinois again.
I don't know; it was illegal but the damage is done. Its not like this can be put back under wraps.
Your guess is as good mine. A liberal judge who made a generalization about the Fourth Estate's precious "First Amendment" rights or something to that effect. Its all BS.
Sure. Ronald Reagan.
Nancy was an actress too.
Yes. Let's ignore Juanita's testimony and interviews about Clinton's rape.
But, if it's a republican, the liberal press will certainly sue to open court divorce records....
I think it's inconceivable that this judge isn't a Democrat acting on direct instructions from the party hacks who gave him his job. The private life of a politician should not be subject to FOIA requests and this matter has nothing to do with his conduct in office.
Contrast this with the unanimous refusal of SCOTUS to release the Vincent Foster pictures, although arguably that WAS a public concern.
It's no excuse, but Clinton was married to an ugly schrew. What's this guy's excuse?
Keep the pictures coming, I'm not sufficiently outraged, yet. ;^)
If he were a Democrat, he could have driven her into a pond or river, and would, at most, lose the Star Trek vote.
I don't approve of either spouse's behavior. His wife did cheat on her husband. That doesn't mean this was a matter of public interest. Using the judge's reasoning, are we now going to open every divorce battle in the country to public scrutiny? Its quite interesting, this demand to know about the Ryans' marital life from the same people who insisted adamantly Bill Clinton's adultery was a private matter.
If you don't stop with the pics I won't be able to get up out of my chair today!
Don't listen to him, Cabrera.
I was on the set of a show called
Dark Skies" when she made her debut on it. She walked into the soundstage and everyone, I mean everyone, just stopped what they were doing. Her combination of beauty and stage prescence made it look like we were completely frozen in time, like a deer in the headlights. I've never quite seen anything like it. Her husband appears to be demented if he wanted to drag her to sex clubs.
Well, I'd do her in a heartbeat!
(The second time, I might last TWO heartbeats...)
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