Gary Owen’s estranged wife Kenya Duke addressed the comedian’s claims about their pending divorce, Owen’s “deadbeat father” response, his friendship with Claudia Jordan, and many more topics on Friday, June 11, following his recent interview on “The Wendy Williams Show.” Owen made a guest appearance to promote his latest film, “The House Next Door: Meet the Blacks 2.”
Duke took to Instagram to write a five-page letter directly to Owen expressing how “highly irritated” she was about the entire situation. The mother of three started by saying, “Gary, while I am not pressed, I am highly irritated … I was shocked you spent most of your time talking about me, the divorce, son and daughter. If the streets are that good to you, then why waste that opportunity and not talk about upcoming projects?”
The 46-year-old also pinpointed a few other things, including Williams’ flirtatious nature toward Owen as the daytime television host asked him out on a date during the interview.
Duke also asked Owen why Claudia Jordan was deeply involved in their divorce announcement, although the “Think Like a Man” star claimed that he and Jordan are just friends. “Your priority yesterday was defending irrelevant Claudia… Claudia is the most invested person in this divorce and the first to comment, why? She is a good friend to you, not me. Stop saying you’re staying quiet. You feed Claudia the information you want out.”
Further in the post, Duke reiterated her previous “deadbeat” father allegations against her estranged husband, despite the couple’s two children being over 18. Owen and Duke share a son, Austin Owen, 21, and an 18-year-old daughter named Kennedy Owen. Duke listed the countless times Owen has failed to make an effort to see or spend time with his children.
One instance, she claimed occurred earlier this year when the comedian bailed at the last minute after making plans with his “child.” She claimed the reasoning behind his cancellation was because his comedy show was canceled when it wasn’t. Duke also added that although Owen has a set schedule for his days off — which is Monday through Wednesday — he hasn’t seen either kids in six months. She closed out that statement by saying Owen doesn’t have a healthy relationship with his children, despite what he said in his interview to clean up his image.
Duke initially called out Owen for not financially supporting the family on June 6 after he posted a photo of himself wearing a shirt with the words breadwinner and its definition written on it.
Days following Duke’s first “deadbeat father” allegations, Owen discussed those claims and details about his pending divorce on June 10 during his interview with Wendy Williams. The comedian said concerning his children, “We have adults. Yea, we have adults. I just want to make sure, there’s no child support. No, for real, it got out there that I’m a deadbeat dad.”
Owen also added that the sole reason behind the couple divorcing was simply because the marriage was over and he didn’t want to make it public, but because of Duke’s rants he felt he had to address it. “This is one of those it’s not a tragic ending. You’re with someone for 23 years and you know the marriage ended and it happens. It’s okay. It’s okay it happens. I wanted to keep it private but she [Kenya] didn’t.”
Owen and Duke, who were together a total of 23 years, announced in March that they were getting a divorce. During the announcement at the time, no specific reason was provided behind the couple’s demise. According to TMZ, Duke initially filed for divorce.
