Until now, David Hasselhoff has kept quiet about the break-up of his marriage, but now the star has followed the alarming new trend of playing out divorce proceedings in the public eye (which was started by Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger just the other week). The Hoff has reacted to his estranged wife Pamela banning his visitation rights because of that video by releasing a lengthy statement criticising her parenting skills and accusing her of having “a thirst for publicity” (erm, pot, kettle, anyone?). Make yourself a cup of tea and then sit back to read the full statement. It's really good, but bear in mind Hoffers was quite angry when he wrote it so you might want to take it with a giant pinch of salt...
“More than a year ago, I made a difficult decision, for the sake of our children and myself, to file for divorce. To this day, my ex-wife has engaged in conduct designed to punish me by repeatedly publishing false statements to the press. Despite her fabricated claims, I have, from the outset of this painful divorce, consistently taken the high road by not responding to the myriad of false allegations made against me out of consideration for our children. I recognise that public discussion of the issues which exist between us is not something which is in the best interests of our daughters.
But recent events have made it impossible for me to continue to remain silent. My ex-wife recently suggested that I had not only been physically abusive to her, but that I was also physically abusive towards our two daughters. This latest claim is not only utterly false, but it is also obscene. Our daughters are outraged by the falsity of their mother’s claims and urged me to allow them to go to the press to challenge these claims. I discouraged our daughters from doing so, but I agreed that I would finally come forward and challenge these absurd claims made by their mother.
My ex-wife’s actions are nothing more than a transparent attempt to garner attention from the media and to hurt me. Her claims that I ever physically abused her or our children are ludicrous. It is inexcusable that my ex-wife has perpetuated these false claims against me, without consideration for the toll her actions have taken on the girls. However, it is clear that she will resort to any means to obtain the attention of the media in order to satisfy her own perverse need for publicity, regardless of its impact on our daughters or me.
The lack of veracity of her claims have, and will continue to be borne out in the marital litigation. Unfortunately, our children have been subjected to physical and emotional abuse on numerous occasions, but it has been at the hands of their own mother, which abuse has been documented by the court appointed experts in our marital proceedings.
While I acknowledge that I am a recovering alcoholic who must deal with my own issues on a daily basis, my ex-wife has refused to deal with her own issues, which include having tested positive for alcohol and illegal substances in response to court ordered testing. Although she has publicly denied having tested positive, proof of her drug use is part of the court record.
I truly hope that my ex-wife will get the help that she so desperately needs for her own sake and for the sake of our children, and that in the future she will refrain from perpetuating falsehoods and selfishly compromising the well-being of our children so that they can move forward with their lives, with their privacy respected. I look forward to the day that our marital litigation is behind me, so that our children and I can move forward with our lives in peace.”