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Former couple Damon Gillespie and Grace Aki have initiated a battle of lawsuits against each other. The two officially separated in July 2021, around three years after exchanging vows in October 2018.
A month before that, Aki had taken to her podcast, "Tell Me On A Sunday," talking about domestic violence and shared her own experience with it. She accused Gillespie of physical and emotional abuse towards her.
In response to the allegations, Gillespie filed a lawsuit against his ex-wife, claiming that her podcast had cost him work and impacted his reputation.
Grace Aki opposed Gillespie's claims in a counter lawsuit late last week. According to legal papers, she hadn't referred to the actor by his name in the podcast and called him "husband" and other names like “monster, abusive, narcissistic, arrogant, entitled a***ole.”
Details of Grace Aki's lawsuit against ex-husband Gillespie
In her statement, Grace claims that she wasn't aware of Gillespie’s character up until 2019, when she “began to realize that the man she married had concealed vicious personality traits from her.”
According to her, Gillespie manhandled and verbally harassed her during their time together. She explained that she locked herself up in her room to avoid Gillespie and sent SOS messages to her friends. She alleged that when he found out about it, he forcefully opened the door and pulled her out of bed to threaten her.
She also reported that he left their house early during the pandemic and was absent for months before returning.
Aki’s lawyer, Valdi Licul, claims that Gillespie's lawsuit against Aki was baseless and was only made to intimidate her. She said:
“His suit is baseless. He wants to bring a lawsuit to shut her up.”
She explained that there is a legal term for it: a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, or SLAPP.
According to Wikipedia:
"A strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP), SLAPP suit, or intimidation lawsuit is intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition."
Gillespie has denied the allegations against him and said Grace Aki's podcast had already damaged his career. He further explained that his publicist and agent had fired him upon the claims made in the podcast and the bad publicity it brought him. He also pointed to being threatened on social media.
Gillespie's lawyer denied providing any comment on the situation and said:
“It is my universal practice that I do not try my cases in the press, everything I have to say is in the court papers. Neither I nor my client will have any comment.”
Damon Gillespie is an actor, singer, dancer, acrobat, musician, and playwright from Chattanooga, Tennessee. He has starred in the TV drama “Rise.” He also made an appearance on “Inside Amy Schumer” and Netflix’s “Tiny Pretty Things.”
Grace Aki is a theater artist from Dalton, Georgia, who has worked on numerous projects and is currently working on her solo play entitled "To Free a Mockingbird."
