Lesbian court action
NZPA-Reuter Los Angeles
A woman hairdresser has gone to court in Los Angeles claiming she was the lesbian lover of the tennis star, Billie Jean King, and lived with her for seven years.
Marilyn Barnett, aged 33, Died a suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court saying that Mrs King, six times Wimbledon champion and one of America’s best-known tennis players, had promised her life-time financial support.
Her 13-page suit, seeking equal property rights under the 1977 California Supreme Court “palimony” ruling giving lovers the same rights as married couples, said she became Mrs King’s lover in 1972 and lived with her until 1979.
Mrs King, aged 37, on a tennis tour in Florida, said
that the allegations were untrue and unfounded. In a statement issued through her press agent and approved by her lawyer, she said: “I am completely shocked and disappointed by the actions Ms Barnett has taken.” Miss Barnett said in her suit filed yesterday: “On or about May, 1972, in Los Angeles, California, plaintiff and King met and began dating on a regular basis.” - “Sexual intimacy between Ms Barnett and King commenced approximately six months after their first date,” the suit added. The suit alleged that Miss Barnett and Mrs King lived together in Malibu, California, and New York. Miss Barnett, now confined to a wheelchair after an accident, said she lived with Mrs King and main-
tained a relationship with her until the tennis star ordered her to leave the Malibu home in 1979.
Miss Barnett is seeking life-time financial support and title to the Malibu house. According to her lawyer she is still living there.
Mrs King’s husband of 16 years, Larry, was also named in the suit. Miss Barnett said that she left her job as a hairdresser to become Mrs King’s secretary, confidante, companion, cook, cleaning person and “all other things necessary so that King’s energy could be totally directed towards playing tennis.”
She said Mrs King had made a verbal contract to give her a Malibu home and provide her with “all financial support and needs for the rest of her life'
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Bibliographic details
Press, 1 May 1981, Page 24
Word Count
354Lesbian court action Press, 1 May 1981, Page 24
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