Wife of Actor Billy Bob Thornton Files for Divorce, Seeks Custody of Kids
The wife of Academy Award winner Billy Bob Thornton filed for divorce Friday, citing irreconcilable differences.
According to the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Pietra Dawn Thornton is seeking custody of the couple’s two children--William, 3, and Harry James, 2--and wants spousal support and attorney’s fees to be paid by her husband.
The couple was married Feb. 18, 1993, and separated Tuesday.
The divorce filing came less than a month after Thornton won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay for “Sling Blade,” a film about a mentally handicapped man who is released from a mental institution 25 years after committing a double homicide.
Thornton was born and raised in Arkansas. After seeing Elvis Presley in the movies, he said he wanted to be a rock star or a movie star. He spent several years as a rock singer and drummer.
In 1983 he moved to Los Angeles, took acting classes and struggled until he landed a role in the TV series “The Outsiders.”
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