New Tyson Crash Theory: Plea for Attention From Wife

Mike Tyson, who is reported to have threatened suicide before smashing his car into a tree, may have been trying to attract more attention from a wife who is ignoring him, a source close to the heavyweight champion said Wednesday.

While everyone close to Tyson rejected the suicide report, Tyson’s manager, Bill Cayton, did confirm Wednesday that the fighter’s actress wife, Robin Givens, and her mother, Ruth Roper, have urged Tyson to see a psychiatrist specializing in athletic stress.

Cayton, however, said he hasn’t talked to Tyson for nearly two weeks. He said he was prevented from visiting Tyson in the hospital by Givens, her mother and Tyson’s new publicity agent, Howard Rubenstein.

It was apparent that while Tyson was recovering from a concussion sustained Sunday when his car ran into a tree, a rift between the Givens group and the boxing group that includes Cayton and trainer Kevin Rooney was widening.

“Without me, there’d be no Mike Tyson,” Cayton said. “And suddenly, these people are interested in his welfare, and I’m not. I am outraged.”

The New York Daily News Wednesday quoted unidentified sources close to Tyson as saying the heavyweight champion told his wife he was going to kill himself, then got into his car and ran it into a tree in Catskill, N.Y., where he trains. Doctors said Tyson sustained a concussion and amnesia and was unconscious for about a half-hour.

One source close to the Tyson camp told the Associated Press Wednesday the fighter had been “brooding all week” because Givens chose to remain in New York rather than be with him during his training at Catskill. The source said she wanted to “hang out with her fancy friends at the U.S. Open.”

The source, however, said any threats of suicide were “idle threats” and said those close to Tyson believe he was “just looking for a little attention” from his wife, adding: “Mike is very insecure when it comes to her.”