Former New Jersey
governor James E. McGreevey had little time for his
daughter while he was running the state and exposed her to a
picture of a nude male model at his home, his wife
said in divorce papers Thursday. In the documents,
Dina Matos McGreevey also seeks legal and primary
residential custody of the couple's 5-year-old daughter,
Jacqueline.
The McGreeveys'
increasingly contentious divorce comes as Matos McGreevey
prepares to release a tell-all book on May 1 about her
marriage to the gay governor. McGreevey, 49, penned
his own memoir, released last year.
When McGreevey
filed for divorce in February, he said the couple had
resolved custody issues. But Matos McGreevey said no such
agreement had been made. The former governor has filed
revised complaints seeking joint custody and a
parenting coordinator to help settle visitation disputes.
''Unfortunately,
divorces are contentious by nature, if not painful,''
McGreevey said Thursday. ''I believe Dina and I want to
serve the best interests of Jacqueline. Hopefully,
with the court's assistance, we'll come to an amicable
resolution.''
In her filing
Thursday, Matos McGreevey accuses her husband of not
shouldering his share of their daughter's $995 monthly
preschool tuition and exposing her to media during his
book tour.
She also wants
the court to prohibit Jacqueline from seeing the
''life-size photograph of a nude male model'' by artist
Richard Renaldi. McGreevey and his partner took down
the photo from the master bedroom, Matos McGreevey
said, but only after she threatened to withhold
visitation.
She said that
McGreevey didn't bother to meet her at a hospital emergency
room after their daughter fell and cut her chin in 2003.
''We were
there...between five and six hours,'' she said. ''Plaintiff
never even came to the hospital even though he passed not
too far away en route to a Democratic Party
function.''
Matos McGreevey
and her lawyer did not return calls for comment Thursday.
(Angela Delli Santi, AP)
