NAMES IN THE NEWS : Clay’s Ex: He Used to Be Nice

Even though Kathy Swanson is suing Andrew Dice Clay for $6 million, she wants people to know the comedian who once was her husband used to be sweet.

Swanson, who left her family’s rural Iowa farm to seek success in Hollywood, said she and Clay met in 1980. Their first date included buying a bottle of wine at a convenience store and sitting in front of a fake log in his fireplace.

They spent a chaste night together on the sofa, sleeping, she said.

“It was like he tied me to a pedestal. He was very protective of me, and that was fine at the time,” Swanson said in an interview with the Des Moines Sunday Register.

They lived together for four years, married in 1984 and were divorced two years later.

Although her ex-husband--whose act has been criticized as misogynist, homophobic and otherwise bigoted--always tended to view women “as barefoot, pregnant and walking 10 feet behind you,” she said, his barbs grew more vehement.

Swanson said that Clay manipulated her and that she did not get her own lawyer when they divorced. Her lawyer now, Marvin Mitchelson, said the divorce decree settled $4,000 in debts and paid Swanson $1,000 a month for 18 months.

Her suit seeks $3 million in shared property and an equal amount in punitive damages.

Clay’s lawyers have declined to comment.