Terrence Howard
Terrence Howard is reportedly trying to cut off his ex-wife's spousal support. Reuters

Terrence Howard’s fictional wife on “Empire” isn’t the only one after his money. The actor’s ex-wife, Michelle Ghent, has a hefty agreement with Howard for spousal support and charges that he is behind on payments. The Oscar-nominated actor will assert that Ghent blackmailed him into the agreement and is now seeking to cut her off from spousal support, according to TMZ.

Howard, now 46, married Ghent, a commercial production employee, in January 2010. Ghent filed for divorce in February 2011 and the split was finalized in May 2013. Though they were together only a year, their settlement agreed to five years of spousal support for Ghent. This is strange for such a short marriage because support usually only lasts half the time of the marriage. Howard and his lawyer claim that this is evidence of blackmail, TMZ says.

Ghent, Howard’s second wife, allegedly blackmailed the "Empire" actor with private pictures and videos in order to get so much spousal support in the settlement. Some of the pictures supposedly show Howard naked in the shower.

Now Ghent is saying he is behind on his support payments. “Terrence is required to pay Michelle $5,800 a month in spousal support, but if he makes more than $62,500 a quarter, she gets 21 percent of the excess. According to her docs, Terrence made $125,000 an episode in Season 1 and he's sure to get a huge raise,” TMZ explains. Ghent contends that she is owed more than $500,000 and believes that he is hiding some of his assets.

Howard will file a formal claim to cut off spousal support later this month, according to TMZ's sources. This isn’t the first time he has claimed his ex-wife blackmailed him. The “Iron Man” actor filed a similar claim last summer when he was behind on spousal support by more than $325,000. It isn’t clear if a judge resolved the dispute the first time or if this claim will be related to the prior one.

This isn’t the first time the two have been to court. Even before their divorce was official, Ghent took out a restraining order on Howard in 2011, claiming that he physically abused her and threatened her life, according to Us Weekly. The actor has denied those claims.

RELATED STORIES