FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) – “Dr. Phil” McGraw and The National Enquirer are lining up for a courtroom brawl after the television talk show host and his wife filed a $250 million lawsuit against the supermarket tabloid and its sister publications, charging that they falsely accused him of being an abusive husband and a hypocrite who doesn’t practice what he preaches.
The lawsuit was filed last week in Palm Beach County, Florida, against the Enquirer, its owner American Media Inc. and sister publications, Star Magazine and the website Radar Online. According to the suit, the publications damaged McGraw’s reputation by falsely accusing the TV psychologist of physically and verbally abusing his wife, Robin. The articles also said that Robin McGraw tolerated the abuse and that the couple are getting divorced. The suit also says the Enquirer falsely accused McGraw of busting a man’s head with a beer mug during a drunken melee while in college in the early 1970s.
The suit says such allegations unjustly harm the McGraws’ reputation as outspoken opponents of spousal abuse. It adds that Robin McGraw started a foundation aimed at helping battered spouses and that the couple’s marriage is solid.
McGraw, 65, hosts the popular “Dr. Phil” talk show, where the booming-voiced Texan is known for passing out folksy advice to guests with various problems. He also produces “The Doctors” and other TV shows and publishes best-selling diet and self-help books. Forbes Magazine ranks him as the world’s fourth-highest-paid celebrity, with annual earnings of $88 million.
“Dr. and Mrs. McGraw, after enduring years of the National Enquirer, Star and other American Media Inc. publications knowingly and recklessly printing outrageous lies about them, their marriage, their integrity and their character, have finally concluded that enough is enough and too much is too much,” their attorney, Lin Wood, said in a statement.