Lakeisha Graham Williams’ hopes of rekindling her relationship with Richard Williams, the father of superstar athletes Venus and Serena Williams, reportedly have been dashed.
New court records have confirmed that he does not want to remain married to the 44-year-old, saying that their relationship is “irretrievably broken.”
Williams filed documents in Palm Beach County on Aug. 21, stating his desire to formally end his marriage to Lakeisha Williams, despite her claims they were getting back together.
“I do not wish to reconcile,” he said in the paperwork, according to Page Six.
The new filing comes two months after Lakeisha Williams submitted documents in June to dismiss the divorce request.
She reportedly believed because the two had been having “regular weekly sexual relations” they were reconciling, adding that the 81-year-old, who was the central character in the 2022 Oscar-nominated film “King Richard, has frequently declared “his love and commitment” to her and the family they created together.
The two were married on Dec. 29, 2010, and have an 11-year-old son named Dylan.
Richard Williams initiated divorce proceedings against Lakeisha Williams in May 2017, following seven years of marriage.
In his initial filing, he alleged that his wife committed forgery by signing his name on a property deed and had also taken his Social Security checks without permission.
His son, Chavoita LeSane, was among the first to draw attention to the Social Security checks and his dwindling finances.
“My first concern, as far as Lakeisha and the relationship with my dad, I think began when my dad started having concerns about money disappearing,” LeSane told The U.S. Sun.
“He would want me to figure out why his [social security] checks stopped coming to him. What was going on? And that really became very alarming to me,” the son continued. “I started wondering why his social security checks were even of importance, financially, so it was just very odd.”
The son said his father always had been an “astute” businessman and handled his finances with extreme care. Now that his father’s estate seemed to be in shambles, LeSane said, “I started realizing I needed to pay more attention to what was going on at the house.”
The legal documents indicated that Lakeisha Williams believed other people were meddling.
She asserted that any indications Richard gave about desiring to end their marriage were the result of “undue influence from third parties” trying to undermine the inheritance rights she and her son otherwise would have obtained from him.
Lakeisha Williams’ lawyer Sandy Becher defended her client, adding in a countersuit that Richard Williams and his family are putting out lies about the wife.
“His malicious and fabricated allegations will be completely disproven in court, and they are being alleged for the sole purpose of attempting to deceive the court into not awarding child support and alimony to his child and wife,” she said.
The attorney added Richard Williams actually was the abusive one in the relationship, and created a “hostile” environment throughout their relationship.
